本学期家长心理沙龙活动的中西组合新模式受到了家长们的充分认可,在中西方文化的融合中,逐渐提升家长的心理品质。下半学期的三场心理沙龙主题分别为“成长与分离”、“陪伴式成长”和“常见心理疾病小常识”,在活动中家长们进行了充分的讨论交流,既清晰了认知,又打开了思路。
自从孩子进入七德,许多家长便开始思考关于“成长与分离”的问题,但不得要领。我们的沙龙活动帮助家长清晰模糊的认知,真正懂得青年人的独立需要学习,学习需要空间,放手成长是让青年人成长的基础条件,这是对子女的教养进入到一个新的阶段,家长们可以再次拥有比较自由的生活,做一些自己感兴趣的事情。有家长如此感慨:“高中三年,我们家长应该和自己的孩子在思想上、行动上为即将开始的新生活做准备。”
“陪伴式成长”这个话题每学年都会作为家长沙龙活动的一个重要主题,因为进入高中后亲子关系明显变化,让很多家长茫然无措,不知用怎样的方式与孩子相处才能让彼此舒服。其实,面对拒绝交流的孩子,可以尝试用一些沟通技巧,比如当孩子述说一些学校的日常琐事时,家长应该表现出同理心,而不是对孩子某种不当言行主观地进行批评或表示不满。遇到孩子愿意畅所欲言的场合,要学会倾听而不随意打断,有家长如此顿悟:“这样让孩子在完整讲述的过程中感受到我们家长是开明而包容的,进而更愿意分享自己身边那些开心或不开心的事,亲子关系自然也就融洽了。”
关于“常见心理疾病小常识”这一场沙龙活动,家长们一起学习并了解了关于焦虑情绪与焦虑症、抑郁情绪与抑郁症的相关知识。面对这类现象,家长需要耐心陪伴,不用太多安慰的言语,适当表达对孩子的信心。有家长如此释然:“焦虑症也好,抑郁症也罢,或许已是现代社会较为普遍的心理现象,科学系统的治疗是对待这些心理疾病的正确态度和方式;而父母的陪伴更是不可或缺的。”
为了让家长们更清楚地了解IB艺术对大学申请的作用,Mr. Katz给有需求的家长开设了一个专场,给到了非常专业的有针对性的指导。对此,Mr. Katz自己做了一个很好的反思。
Rafael Katz
一所优质的国际学校中很重要的组成部分是家长教育,由于我们的大多数学生来自体制内,他们的家长对孩子在七德的生活充满好奇,也对如何帮助他们适应国际课程和海外大学有很多问题。我和心理咨询师王晶老师共同主持的家长沙龙,提供给家长机会畅谈他们和孩子面临的社交或学术方面的问题与挑战。我和王老师负责发起讨论、给予建议,家长们也可以互相学习。有些沙龙针对特定年级,有些则面向所有年级,讨论特定话题。
An important component of a high functioning international school is parent education. Since most of our students come from the local education system, many of their parents have lots of questions related to their children’s life at QD and how they can help their children adjust to international high school and college overseas. Our parent salons, led by our social emotional teacher, Ms. Wang and I, give parents a chance to chat about different social and academic questions and challenges facing them and their children. Ms. Wang and I are there to lead discussions and to give our advice. Parents can also learn from each other. Some salons have been targeted for particular grade levels. Some have been for mixed grade levels focusing on particular topics.
上个月的沙龙主题是艺术与大学申请,参加的家长中,有一部分的孩子确定要申请艺术学院,然而,绝大多数家长想了解艺术能如何帮助孩子申请综合性大学?我们谈到,有学生将艺术作品集纳入大学申请材料,即使他们并不申请艺术学院。七德重视艺术教育,无论学生未来想申请什么专业,学校都鼓励他们浸润在艺术之中。实际上,我们发现有很多证据显示,擅长数学和科学的理科学生如果展现出对艺术的兴趣,反而更受顶尖大学的青睐。在我们的沙龙讨论中,家长们得以提出许多关于孩子艺术选课和艺术活动的问题。
This last month’s salon was on the topic of art and college applications. Parents that attended included a few whose children might apply to art schools, but the majority of parents had questions about how the arts can help their children and help with college applications when they are applying to comprehensive colleges. We discussed students using art portfolios as part of their application materials even if they are not applying to art schools. QD is a high school that values exposing all students to the arts, no matter what the student’s future intended major is. In fact, we have a lot of evidence that for math and science students, showing accomplishments and interest in the arts is something that top colleges appreciate. At our salon discussion on this topic, parents were able to ask questions and think about arts course selection and activities for their own children.