May 2019
Special edition: G R A T I T U D E
Today
By Billy Collins
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

The Right from the Start team looks forward to sharing Mental Health inspiration with you.
Right from the Start is celebrating Gratitude during Mental Health Week (May 6 - 10) at your child's school.
ERS : May 6-10th is Mental Health Week! Our school will be focusing on ' The Art of Being Thankful' and how these practices contribute to positive mental health. We are also spreading kindness by doing a school food drive . Please send your child with a non-perishable item to add to our drive. What people or experiences are you thankful for? SHARE these examples with your family; when we share gratitude, it grows! SAVE the date for our School Picnic and Dance Party on Wednesday May 29th; feel free to pack a lunch, bring a picnic blanket and meet your child on the field at noon to enjoy a Spring Picnic - dance party on the tarmac to follow.
Read Books About Gratitude
Reading books about gratitude with your children is a great way to start a discussion. Talk about how the characters feel and what it means to be thankful.You can pull from your own collection, or head to the library for a wealth of options.Here is a list of 19 Children's Books About Gratitude
Write Thank You Notes: Nothing beats the personal touch of a hand-written thank you note. Your children can write thank you notes to a grandparent, sibling, friend, teacher... or even the stranger at the grocery store. Your children will learn to think about why they appreciate something or someone and how to express that gratitude (not to mention brighten someone's day). If your child is too young to write their own thank you note, you can involve them in other ways. If the note is for a gift, ask your child what they like about their gift and write their response for them, or have your child draw a picture for the gift giver.
Rose, Bud and Thorn : Ritual is a powerful way to bring more gratitude into your life! When you have dinner together you could talk about your day through the metaphor of a Rose, a Bud and a Thorn. A rose is something good that happened that day (I played with my friend at recess), a bud is something you hope to grow more of (math felt a little easier today because I got some extra help) and a thorn is something that one needs to let go of or it wasn't a great part of the day (I got tripped at recess and I was embarrassed). Acknowledging these parts of our day can bring more awareness, and that can generate gratitude for what we have and the learnings that took place.




Upcoming W orkshops

Sibling Rivalry. This workshop offers tools to develop and maintain strong sibling bonds . Monday, May 6, 6 - 8 pm. Location TBD. To register call 403.609.3743 and please indicate if child care is needed
 
Modeling Gratitude : Many parents worry about children being ungrateful. Here's what you can do to nurture a culture of thankfulness in your home. Read about Nurturing Gratitude here.
LGMS: Next week (May 6 - 10) is Mental Health week, and Mr D will be going into certain classrooms and talking about the Attitude of Gratitude, particularly when it comes to who helps who in your life zoo
A Smart Way to Use Gratitude to Change your Mood : Have you ever had one of those days were you woke up and felt, ‘"Wow I have an endless list of things that I have to do today? " One of the ways we can shift the overwhelming feeling of these so-called have to unpleasant tasks is to look at them through a gratitude lens. Instead of thinking, I have to grocery shop today, w alk the aisles and think, “Wow, I am fortunate to live in a country where healthy food is plentiful.” Remember, When you change the way you look at things, what you look at changes . (Max Planck, a German  theoretical physicist  whose discovery of  energy quanta won him the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics, said that. )

Need more ideas? Here are Nine Gratitude Activities for Children
During Mental Health week at BES we will be encouraging Random Acts of Kindness, wearing hats for Mental Health (May 8), teaching lessons on thankfulness and gratitude and running a Take 5 on Thursday, May 9 (please come!).
Alpenglow
During Mental Week RFTS will going into classrooms to talk about the Garbage Can Tool - letting go of the little things allows for more space to recognize the good things in life. Garbage can tool assembly May 16th.
Right from the Start | 403-678-6292 |
For inquires contact Mary Weighell
Project Coordinator