KN Counseling Newsletter

March Lessons:

Lesson #1

KNE Class Discussion - CAREERS

WE Class Discussion - ACCEPTANCE (AMI makeup)

Lesson #2

Classroom Discussion - SELF-CONTROL

Mrs. Kendall, KNE school counselor, will be on maternity leave for the upcoming months. During this time, Marci Butler will be the point of contact for all counseling-related matters at KNE. Please feel free to reach out to Marci at mbutler@knobnoster.k12.mo.us for any support or questions. We appreciate your understanding and support during this time!

KNE S2S First Friday - March 7th 7:30-8:00

March 5th - KNHS Elective Tour (all 8th graders)

March 6th - March 20th - Completion of 8th Grade ICAPS

March 14th - UCM Tour (all 8th graders)

March 7th - S2S First Friday - New Student Check-In Activity

• Knob Noster High School Electives Tour - Wednesday, March 5th
• UCM Campus Tour - Friday, March 14th
• State Fair Community College Tour - Thursday, April 17th
• Pink Panther (all 8th grade girls) - Saturday, April 12th - 1p-12a @ KNHS
• Level Up (all 8th grade boys) - Wednesday, April 30th - 4p-8p @ KNHS

March 3rd - Signs of Suicide Training (all students)

March 4th - Healthy Relationships Training (all students)

March 11th - ACT @ KNHS

March 14th - WACC Applications Due

March 18th - WACC Interviews

9th Grade - Jayden Murry

10th Grade - Kady Inman

11th Grade - Taylor Reeves

12th Grade - Micah Rivera

Staff - Mrs. Louisa Jackson

Your KNHS Counselors send out weekly emails with a variety of amazing opportunities for students! Encourage your child to look at those in case one would be a great fit for them!

Listen, we get it. Parenting big kids is an overwhelming ball of a thousand moving parts floating around in the air all day.

Today’s teachers are facing more obstacles than ever. But teachers today also face another challenge we didn’t have 15-20 years ago.

The culprit? Teenage cellphone usage.

For many teachers, every single day is a grueling up-hill battle to get 20-30 tweens/teens to focus, participate, read, write, and show respect to everyone else in the classroom. And when they ask for help, we should listen in order to improve our children’s classroom learning experience. One such plea many teachers are making is that parents stop texting their tweens/teens during the school day.

Even if phones aren’t technically allowed in class, having kids hear a ding or feel a buzz immediately takes their focus away from the lesson and onto wondering who has contacted them and how they can peek at their phone. When the phone vibrates in their pocket, now their focus is on their pocket. And they’re wondering, ‘How do I get it out to the table? How do I check it?'” You ask them a question and they haven’t heard a word you’ve said. Their brain is elsewhere.

It is not just disrupting the class when we text our 16-year-old that her Amazon delivery arrived or when we text our high school sophomore to ask if he got his math test back yet. We’re doing potential harm to our own children’s development and wellbeing.

Constant buzzes of phones during school hours can exacerbate common issues like test anxiety. And parents can stunt their tween/teens' development and impede their independence by contacting them throughout the day OR rescuing them from difficult situations. Rather than teaching our kids that they are empowered to face challenges and figure things out on their own, we’re allowing them to constantly ask Mom and Dad to intervene, which impedes their overall growth.

We know you want your kids to be safe. You want them to be able to get a hold of you in case of emergency. You want to be able to get a hold of them in case of emergency. We completely understand. Fears of hearing that the school is on lockdown due to an active shooter keeps us all up at night. You want your child to be able to contact you in those kinds of situations.

But that doesn’t mean they need to be texted during 3rd hour Economics to ask what grade they got on their latest essay or to ask them if they want chicken or hamburgers for dinner tonight.

We tell our kids that school is their job. It needs to be top priority and to be taken seriously. We want them to work hard, study, get their homework done, and make the most out of their educational experience. That’s why we need to minimize any interruption to their focus or concentration. Kids today already have constant stimuli coming at them—mentally and physically. Test tomorrow! Essay due next week! Tennis practice after school! Get your volunteer hours in! This boy likes you! No he doesn’t! Did you see what those girls said about you on Snapchat?!

It is our responsibility during the middle & high school years to strengthen our kids’ wings so they can get ready to fly soon. Bugging them throughout the day about other responsibilities that are theirs and theirs alone or coming to pick them up when they encounter a difficult situation doesn’t help them learn to fly.

Also, if you as a parent want to make this change and stop texting during the school day, that means not responding when your kid texts you either. Part of growing up means letting tweens & teens handle their own decisions, problem-solve, and use their own self-calming techniques when they are stressed about a test or social interaction while at school. Schools are equipped with Nurses and Counselors for a reason. They are there to help your child when they aren't feeling well and when they need help in a hard situation.

Also, when you see non-emergency texts like, “Can I go to Tyler’s house this weekend?” or “I forgot to bring shorts for practice. Can you bring me some?” consider not responding to send a reminder that you’re trying to foster your child’s independence and growth as a teen / soon-to-be-adult. Setting the precedent that you won’t text back and forth while they’re at school instills the message of where their focus and priority should be during those hours.

Remember, we all survived high school without being able to contact our parents at 12 p.m. asking for gym shorts. And we’re probably better for it.

The truth is, teachers face enough challenges and don’t need more things added on. And tweens/teens need to learn to navigate life without texting Mom and Dad sometimes. Plus, they are already inundated with stimuli all day, and they don’t need unnecessary texts exacerbating their stress and anxiety. And they definitely don't need parents to swoop in & rescue them from a problem they are facing.

It might be hard, but cutting the digital cord might be exactly what tweens/teens need.

See full article here.

KNE - Adrianne Kendall - akendall@knr8.org

WE - Jennifer Watson - jwatson@knr8.org

KNMS - Heather Wallace - hwallace@knr8.org

KNMS - Taylor Morrison - tmorrison@knr8.org

KNHS - Hailee Wickham - hwickham@knr8.org

KNHS - Amie Wheeler - awheeler@knr8.org