Blog
Goal Pivoting
When we set and achieve goals, we build self-efficacy and strengthen our sense of hope and enthusiasm for the future. Goal setting is a strong preventative measure, equipping youth with reasons to stay on track and make responsible decisions. But what happens when unforeseen circumstances threaten to thwart progress? When things outside of our control get in the way of achieving goals, how we react can be an opportunity in and of itself.
Read moreBlog
The News Now
The news is all around us. It’s easy to develop a frequent habit of checking on news updates for fear of missing the latest developments. The thirst for knowledge and the habit of seeking out news again and again throughout the day can become addictive and distract us from maintaining calm and productivity.
Read more
Choosing Positive Coping Strategies
Recent events have presented us with new and unexpected changes and challenges. One of the biggest changes we’re all facing is a radically different daily routine. Where we could once count on the ability to divide our time and attention between the demands of work and family, we now grapple with attempting to tend to it all in the same jumbled time frame. Our students are also experiencing this instability, after leaving the familiar routines of school and activities.
Read more
How to Start the Conversation on Safe Use of Social Media
Social media is now a fact of modern life, and teenagers growing up with all these new ways to communicate are particularly vulnerable to being influenced by what they see, hear, and share with their friends.
Read more
Clearing the Air
Are we doing enough to prepare children and adolescents to consider and analyze the powerful and persuasive messaging they encounter? Are they prepared to consider the validity of an idea before adopting attitudes and behaviors without question? Are we doing enough to promote the adoption of healthy norms and expectations and mitigate the influence of negative norms and expectations?
Read more
Introducing A Peaceable Place Grade 2
At the Mendez Foundation, we believe strongly in a comprehensive, coordinated approach to developing the skills and attitudes children and adolescents need to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the life ahead of them. Our approach promotes and supports a safe and supportive learning environment that helps establish and reinforce healthy, violence-free, and drug-free norms at home, in the community, and at school.
Read more
Managing Anger for Positive Outcomes
We often view anger as a negative emotion, but anger is a healthy emotion that works to alert us to something we don’t like and prompt us to make a change or to find a solution to the problem. When children understand that being mad sometimes is normal and can be healthy when managed and expressed constructively, they are better able to find solutions to address what bothers them.
Read more
Understanding Emotions
As children mature into adolescence, they face new social and emotional challenges and experiences as they begin to socialize. Children need strategies and skills to navigate the regularly changing world around them so they can communicate their wants and needs and to manage the stresses associated with learning new social norms and fitting into peer groups. Elementary School Between the ages of 6 and 12, children spend more time talking and playing with their peers. Bonding with pro-social peers is an essential protective factor to promote healthy relationships and prevent risky behavior like substance use and aggressive behavior. We want children to know that their feelings are ok and that it is normal to get angry or to be sad or to be happy. The learning comes in how we express those feelings and how we ask for help when we are angry or sad. Encouraging children to share their feelings helps them ask for help when they are unhappy or frustrated, laying the foundation for the development of problem solving and resiliency skills. They also need to develop the vocabulary to express those feelings and the capacity for self-awareness and social awareness to assess complex social situations and choose the healthiest course of action. Adolescents Adolescence represents a period of fundamental physical and social changes that often make it challenging for young people to manage emotions constructively. Once students reach junior and high school, they are more adept at self-reflection. However, because the pre-frontal cortex is still developing, they are prone to impulsive behavior and their decisions are greatly influenced by their peers as well as their emotions. To counter the developmental limitations, learning and practicing strategies to recognize the building of emotions in stressful situations and to consider the behavior of peers and the impulse to follow along, prepares the teen to stop and consider these influences and set a wiser course of action consistent with set goals and expectations. Strong self-awareness and social-awareness capacity builds confidence in teens as they recognize that they are ready to prioritize their goals and set a path to reach those goals so they can confidently resist or avoid choices that would interfere with their own success. Too Good programs provide educators with the tools to empower their students with age-appropriate social-emotional learning strategies and development constructs presented in a social-interactive lesson design. Students learn to communicate effectively, manage their emotions and the emotions of their peers, and tools to help them make good choices. These skills help them navigate challenges at school, making friends, and coping with their changing emotions without resorting to risky behavior like substance abuse, bullying, or acting out. To learn more about how Too Good can help educators provide emotional guidance for children of all ages... Contact us today!
Read more
Skill Building for Life
Teaching children how to set and achieve reachable goals is the greatest gift we can give to prepare them for success in life. When we are equipped with the ability to achieve what we set out to accomplish, suddenly anything seems possible. It is these possibilities that build hope for the future and a future worth working to reach. The ability to set and reach our goals can improve self-confidence and enhance academic performance. For younger children, the most attainable goals are those that can be realistically completed in a week or at least significant progress can be made in a short period of time. Examples of short term goals students can set to practice their skills include finishing homework for the weekend on Friday so that the rest of the weekend is free, reading a new book every month, or practicing a sport or musical instrument for at least 30 minutes per day. As children develop and mature, their grasp of the concept of time and planning for the future increases and they can begin setting more complex goals that may take much more time and involve many more steps to accomplish. Regular practice in setting and reaching goals and reflecting on the outcome of their efforts will strengthen their confidence and ability to assimilate this process into their everyday lives. It is within this framework of positive expectations for the future, that we make better, healthier choices. The most critical step in setting and reaching goals is to Name a goal that can be reached. You can help students develop their action plans by instructing them to identify what needs to be done, how it will be done, and what tools or assistance is needed to make the goal a reality. Reachable goals meet the following four criteria: Personal – Commitment to the goals we set is the strongest driver for success. The goals we set must matter to us. They must be our goals. Possible – The goals we set must be reachable. They must be possible to achieve with the resources, time, and access we have available. Is the goal realistic given your situation? Do I have the time to reach this goal? Positive – Goals should be positive things a student wants to achieve or improve. i.e. “I want to improve my spelling to an 85% on the test” rather than, “I don’t want to do badly on the spelling test.” Specific – A goal needs to be measurable. Without benchmarks or other measures of performance, how do we know when we have reached the goal? A goal must be set to be reached within a certain time. With benchmarks and a timeline, we have something specific to work towards. Once the goal has been named and we are confident it is reachable, we can set out to complete the rest of the process. The next step is to picture yourself reaching the goal. Setting an image in our minds of our future success imprints the expectation that we can achieve what we set out to do. Coupled with a personal affirmation that we can indeed do what we set out to do instills an internal encouragement to do the work and keep at it even if the process becomes challenging. From there we have to plan out how we will accomplish the goal we set. Practice one hour each day for four weeks? Ask for extra help or tutoring? Collect study resources? Once the plan is in place, go for the goal, and when you have reached it, celebrate your success. The celebrating part is critical. The good feeling that comes with this kind of self-driven success is the foundation for future efforts to reach for the challenging and avoid doing things that could interfere with future success. Guiding children in learning and mastering their goal setting skills presents excellent opportunities for educators to mentor and be a positive role-model. Encourage your students to practice setting goals and challenging themselves to try for the things they want from life. Remind them that reaching goals isn’t always easy and to not give up if they don’t succeed on the first or tenth attempt. Goal setting and modeling positive behaviors for kids of all ages represent a fundamental aspect of Too Good programs. Contact us online to learn more, or call us at (800) 750-0986.
Read more
Peer Influence – Good and Bad
Young children depend on their parents, teachers, and the other adults in their lives to model healthy behavior, social cues, and attitudes. As children grow into adolescence and spend more time with friends and less time with parents and siblings, their spheres of influence change. The power of peer behavior as an influence starts to accelerate and drive more decision-making. We typically think of peer pressure as a negative force, but peer pressure and peer influence can be positive too. Consider how the teen with friends who study hard and get good grades can inspire her to hit the books and take her studies more seriously. Similarly, a friend who volunteers at a local hospital after school can help show other teens the value in contributing to their community and demonstrate that helping others can be rewarding. In these situations, the behavior and attitudes of positive pro-social peers set positive norms and expectations, and these positive influences promote other positive attachments and mitigate negative influences. Teens who associate with negative influencers can find themselves being pushed to vape, drink alcohol, or engage in other risky behavior. This pressure doesn’t have to be active. A respected peer engaging in risky behavior acts as an invitation to others to engage in the same negative behavior. Teens often pressure themselves to engage in the behavior of their peers based on the assumption that doing so is necessary to fit in. Without a strong network of positive, pro-social friends engaged in positive activities to counter negative peer influence, many teens find themselves following the path of least resistance. "We typically look at peer pressure as an active, negative force, but peer pressure and peer influence can be positive too. Consider how the teen with friends who study hard and get good grades can inspire her to hit the books and take her studies more seriously." During adolescence, the decision-making centers of the brain are still developing. Adolescents depend on outside influences to assist their decision making whether they realize it or not. Educators and other adults can help adolescents develop confidence and positive self-esteem by giving them the strategies and tools they need to make the right decision even when it isn’t popular or cool. Equipping children with these resources and support enables them to make decisions that are healthy and consistent with their long term goals. The internal pressure to fit in and belong is compelling. It can override positive institutional factors if it is not mitigated by the self-awareness and social awareness to find positive peer groups and reject negative influences and pressures. Teens who can differentiate positive and negative influences are better prepared to stop to consider multiple paths to reaching their goals. They are more likely to choose to resist negative behavior and accept and prioritize healthy choices. The Too Good programs are designed to help educators guide students to interact more positively with one another and manage peer pressure and influence, giving them the tools they need to make better choices. To learn more about how Too Good can prepare your students to manage peer pressure and influence, contact us online or call us at (800) 750-0986.
Read more
Managing Bullying Behavior
Talking to students about bullying, and teaching them to recognize bullying behavior and speak up about it, can help keep students safe, confident, and productive.
Read more
Prevention Education at Every Age
In the mid-1970s, in response to the growing and debilitating drug epidemic facing our country's youth, the Mendez Foundation began to focus on educating students about the social and health consequences of substance abuse. Since then, our signature Too Good for Drugs program has used research and evidence-based methods to help children develop the social and emotional skills to build positive friendships, communicate effectively, resist peer pressure and influence, and make healthy choices.
Read more
Back to School: Gearing Up for Resiliency And Readiness to Learn
Back-to-school time is here! Children across the country are headed back to the classroom and moving another step forward in their education and development. Now is the perfect time for teachers, counselors, administrators, and parents to reinforce social emotional learning skills in kids. Here are a few of our thoughts to help you maintain the back-to-school momentum throughout the school year and keep kids motivated. Make it cross-curricular. Social skill development doesn’t have to stay in your Too Good lessons. Looking for More? lesson extenders provide great opportunities to infuse the social skills development concepts into other subject areas. They could be that quick activity idea to fill a few free moments in your Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science lessons. Have you ever thought about the science of erupting emotions? How about the mathematics behind determining consequences? Regular journaling builds vocabulary and writing skills while providing opportunities to reflect on peer pressure refusal skills and positive peer selection skills. These skills make children better learners and give them greater ability to interact with others, so keep the learning growing in every subject. Involve parents and caregivers. Parental involvement is essential to any child’s healthy development. Activities like Too Good’s Home Workouts bring the learning home to keep parents and caregivers tuned in to what their child is learning and help them practice and reinforce the concepts at home. Whether it is setting family goals or finding constructive solutions to completing chores around the house, these family activities extend the reach of what is learned in school. Invite parents and caregivers to write a newsletter articles about how she or he is positively reinforcing SEL skills at home. Bring parents into the classroom to help facilitate your Too Good lessons and enhance the bond between school and home for your students. The more parents are in tune with what is happening at school, the more your students will engage. Promote community connectedness. Social skills are about more than just children interacting with one another. When families and communities are involved in developing these skills in children, they are twice as likely to use and retain them. To promote community connectedness, enlist participation and cooperation from family members, community leaders, school board members and medical professionals. Enlist the media to advocate prevention. Establish a community-wide task force. The Too Good for Drugs and Violence After School Activities offer tools tailored specifically towards enhancing prevention in recreation centers and community after school settings. This means that there are plenty of opportunities to enlist as many community members as possible for the benefit of that communities' children. So get ready! A new school year means a fresh start, and there’s no better way to kick off a fun year of learning than to help young learners practice the social skills they will need to succeed as they continue in school and later in life.
Read more