It never even occurred to me...

Estimated read time: 3 minutes

Hey

I did the loveliest workshop with a bunch of mums last week. They took an hour out of their day to focus on themselves and their own resilience.

The support and compassion they showed for each other was incredible. I felt chuffed to have created a space where mums could be open about what they were finding tough.

A couple of things were said that really struck me:

I know people love Growth Mindset when they hear about it. But I found it really interesting that these two mums, who knew about the concept already and already use it at work and with their kids, hadn't thought about using it on themselves.

And you know what? I want to change that.

Because we parents deserve that self-belief and motivation too.

So this week, it's all about you. 

We looked at three things in that workshop.

They were:

Let's accept that mistakes are a part of life. And that taking a Growth Mindset approach literally changes how our brain works when we make mistakes. Of course it's not fun every time you make mistakes, but it is easier to deal with them if you immediately ask yourself, 'Fine, what can I learn from this?'

Reframe those bad boys and own them instead of letting them own you.

A big part of resilience is being able to bounce back after a knock. Can you do that if you're busy telling yourself how useless you are? No. So a big part of building resilience is also learning to be kind to yourself. Talk to yourself the way those mums talked to each other last week.

Many of us are so often striving for perfectionism, or comparing ourselves against untrue realities (yes I'm talking about you social media). Don't berate yourself for serving a cold, burnt dinner. Give yourself a pat on the back for managing to cook a meal from scratch WITH VEGETABLES while the kids were losing it and taking your attention every two seconds. That is a feat. Don't let it go uncelebrated.

Try and hold on to these three points, especially as we head into the busy festive period. There's lots to do, remember, balance and navigate. It can be a lot, so help build your resilience and my guess is you might manage it all a wee bit better.

Feels a bit wrong to allude to a swearword on a family newsletter... soz.

But I'm recommending this one anyway. I picked it up in the Tate Modern bookshop a couple of Christmases ago. It was initially for . But by the time I got home it was mine. I'm still reading it two years later.

It's just fun to dip into when I need a little kick up the self-doubt bum. I see it on my shelf, dive into a chapter and come out thinking, 'yeah, I can do anything!'

So if you want a bit of invigorating inspiration, have a look.

Do you pass door numbers or bus numbers every day? Use them as a fun starting point for practising number skills.

If you have a pre-schooler, you can ask:

Which numbers can you see? How old are you? Can you find that number?

As they get older, your questions can advance...

Can you add those two numbers together?

Can you add 65 and 66 together?

Can you times 65 by 66?

You can adapt the questions to whatever level of maths your child is at. They are a fun way of incorporating some mental maths (doing maths in your head) into everyday life!

See you next week.

Becca

PS Sad you missed out on the parent workshop last week? Hit reply and let me know if you want to hear about the next one. I'm thinking of hosting some online versions, so let me know if that floats your boat.

Also, check out my fav testimonial so far. ⬇️

EXCITING

Also, check out my fav testimonial so far. ⬇️