Building Skills with a Self-Care Toolbox
Lower School students are creating “self-care toolboxes” to help them regulate their emotions when experiencing difficult and hard-to-sit-with feelings. The activity is part of Crescent’s Mental Health Week taking place on January 24 to 28.
Students can decorate their toolbox any way they wish and fill it with items, notes and reminders that can be used to settle and soothe themselves. This can include personal notes, meaningful objects, or a list of their favourite calming activities. “The goal of the self-care toolbox is to build a child's ability to tolerate difficult feelings by offering strategies that will help him learn to settle himself,” says Jessica Furman, Lower and Middle School Social Worker, who spearheaded this project. “This is not about avoiding, minimizing or ignoring feelings. Instead, parents can help their children revisit these feelings after they’ve had a chance to cool off and settle with the help of their self-care toolbox.”
Students can decorate their toolbox any way they wish and fill it with items, notes and reminders that can be used to settle and soothe themselves. This can include personal notes, meaningful objects, or a list of their favourite calming activities. “The goal of the self-care toolbox is to build a child's ability to tolerate difficult feelings by offering strategies that will help him learn to settle himself,” says Jessica Furman, Lower and Middle School Social Worker, who spearheaded this project. “This is not about avoiding, minimizing or ignoring feelings. Instead, parents can help their children revisit these feelings after they’ve had a chance to cool off and settle with the help of their self-care toolbox.”
Parents can take part in decorating the box, and help their child consider the items that would help him most. It is an excellent chance to connect and foster meaningful moments together, while equipping the child with tools to manage challenging emotions throughout his school years and beyond.
Crescent’s Mental Health Week focuses on interpersonal connections and self-regulation skills, with age-appropriate activities planned across all grades.
