What if we go beyond “surviving” these stressful times and instead, plan to come out stronger than ever?
– Dr. Shimi Kang
We’re in this together! We wanted to provide you with resources that will help make your transition back to school a bit easier. Please feel free to forward these resources to your friends, family, and colleagues. Thank you for joining our mission to raise smart, happy, strong kids!
Wellness Reset Webinar
Back-to-School Lesson Plans
We’ve created complete lesson plans for K-4 that can help teachers and parents facilitate conversations about managing emotions, positive coping tools, and strategies we can use to build strong classroom communities.
Module 1 Resources:
Module 1 guides teachers and students to discuss ways they can build a strong classroom community that is founded on the future-ready skills of creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and contribution.
Module 2 focuses on building our emotional vocabulary and includes brain science links to our freeze, fight, and flight stress response. Students will learn how to recognize, name, and tame our emotions and feelings.
In Module 3, children will learn why deep breathing is a powerful tool that can help us calm our minds and bodies when we feel scared, nervous, or anxious.
In Module 4, children will discuss the importance of play and how it is a powerful tool that can help us build our creativity and problem-solving skills. This module also provides opportunities for children to discuss physical distancing protocols.
In Module 5, children will practice building their social connections with others, and learn a few communication strategies using the “dolphin, tiger, and jellyfish” metaphors.
Review Dr. Shimi Kang’s K.E.Y.S to Success and other tips and suggestions for getting ready for back-to-school!
Click the image to download the PDF!
You asked some great questions during our live webinar with Dr. Kang! We also wanted to give you more tips and suggestions on these questions, so we went to our talented Dolphin Kids instructors to see what they had to say.
Click the image to read some of our instructor’s tips and suggestions!
Mental Wealth with Dr. Shimi Kang
Looking for videos that can start the discussion around COVID-19, anxiety, and mental wealth in your classroom? Check out Dr. Kang’s Mental Wealth videos on YouTube. Great discussion starters for Grades 8-12.
Online Classes, Virtual Workshops, and Seminars
We’re running weekly online classes, free Saturday classes, virtual workshops for educators, and parent seminars!
Stay tuned for program updates by signing up for our newsletter or email info@dolphinkids.ca for more information.
Who killed summer vacation? That’s
the million dollar question — literally. Long gone are the days of
casually taking a few weeks off with the family to go on a road trip, or
jetting off to a remote destination where the real world ceases to
exist.
This is the problem recently addressed by Jack Dickey in a June issue of TIME Magazine, where he talks about the raising concerns and effects of workers not taking their deserved time off — even when paid to. We’ve all seen it. Most of us have even been this person at one point or another: You know, the one who sits poolside at a resort glued to their smartphone or laptop, and whose entire holiday itinerary revolves around whether or not WiFi will be readily available.
Because
while traditionally vacations were meant to restore and rejuvenate, our
cultural unwillingness to truly “unplug” from everything, especially in
today’s digital age, has proven to be more exhausting and stressful
than just staying in the office — a mindset that is seriously hurting
us mentally, physically and professionally.
According
to reports, Americans are taking less vacation days now than at any
point in the past four decades. And 61 per cent of the Americans who do
plan on taking their paid vacation days say they will be continuing to
do work, send emails, and make business calls while away.
So, What’s Wrong with Vacation?
When surveyed, the top three reasons cited by people for not taking their vacation days were:
Heavier workload upon returning from holiday
Nobody else can do the work
Can’t afford to take it
What Does This Mean?
Whether
we are at home, away, or in the office, many of us are constantly
working. To quote USA Today, “The United States is the only developed
country in the world without a single legally required paid vacation day
or holiday”. So naturally with all this work and no play, one would
think that companies and the workplace are becoming more productive,
right? Unfortunately, the answer is no. What is happening however, is
that we are breeding a society of overworked, uninspired, physically
exhausted, and mentally worn out adults whose health, happiness,
motivation, and personal relationships are also deteriorating as a
result.
Overwhelmed, Overworked and Unproductive!
As
a psychiatrist, I can’t stress enough the importance of downtime,
unplugging, and rest to my patients. In fact, the most effective
prescriptions I write are often lifestyle recommendations such as
sleeping more, making meaningful social connections, routine regular
exercise. Think of it this way, the best athletes know that without
adequate rest, their bodies can’t perform or train as efficiently —
this is no different when it comes to the brain! If we are constantly
tired, how can our brains possibly be working at full capacity? Our
brains need to rest in order to function at optimum capacity. The term
“recreation” comes from the root “to re-create.”
The
problem is many people don’t realize just how exhausted and stressed
they are until given the opportunity to actually take time off.
As
marketing expert Donny Deutsch puts it, “I didn’t realize how
unproductive I’d become until I came back from a vacation, where you go,
‘Oh my God, this is what a mind feels like?'”
A study done
by the Tatung University of Taiwan, published in New Scientist
Magazine, has shown that driving even for 80 minutes straight without
frequent rest stops greatly decreases a driver’s rate of reaction,
increasing the risk of accidents. Now compare this to people working day
in and day out without as much as taking two weeks off in the entire
year–with over half of those people not even getting any real rest
during those two weeks–you can just imagine the rate of deterioration
that would happen to their overall mental capacity and work
productivity.
On
a positive note, in light of all this information, we now have
progressive companies who are coming forward and updating their paid
vacation policies–even going as far as offering incentives in bonuses
to employees who take all of their vacation days, contingent on the
premise that they are doing absolutely zero work on their days off.
Because these companies understand that they benefit more and observe
higher work productivity from well-rested and balanced individuals who
work less months over the year, versus those who work non-stop 12 months
a year to the point of burnout.
Resting for your Health and Sanity: Paying the Price
Time
is money. Or more specifically, your time is money. According to the
study ‘Project: Time Off’ conducted by the U.S. Travel Association, “The
value of one forgone day, where workers are de facto volunteers for
their employers, totals an average of $504 per employee. Therefore, the
value of those 169 million lost days is significant–$52.4 billion in
forfeited benefits.”
That
is a significant value in benefits that employees are entitled to and
yet choosing to forego every year! Instead, they are putting their
mental, emotional, and physical health at risk, sacrificing personal
relationships, and often end up having to spend their hard-earned money
on healthcare due to all of the stress. Because an overwhelmed brain not
only results in poor decision making skills and lack of creativity, but
also a weakened nervous and immune system. Mental health disorders
begin to arise in the forms of depression, severe anxiety, eating
disorders, just to name a few. Other health problems that may occur due
to lack of rest and stress include: heart disease, autoimmune diseases,
insomnia, allergies, accelerated cell aging, cancer, diabetes, the list
is simply endless.
The Cure: Less Work, More Play
The
next time you think about skipping that well-deserved paid vacation,
don’t! And the next time you feel tempted to reach out for your
smartphone or laptop while away, focus on being present instead. No
matter what, your work will still be there for you when you get back and
there will always be more to do. Allow yourself to be rewarded for all
your hard work and achievements, and in turn be rewarded with mental
clarity, energy, a fresh perspective and overall improved health. Use
this time to relax, reflect and repair your mind and body. As a result,
your health, relationships and career will absolutely prosper from it.
If
you’re concerned about the heavy workload upon returning to work, plan
your schedule out ahead of time and figure out a way to complete most of
your tasks prior to leaving, or set up the ground work that makes it
easier for you to pick up where you left off. When you are well-prepared
and show that you are able to maintain (or even increase) productivity
after taking time off, it will only prove your capability and value to
the company, as well as the benefits of encouraging employees to go on
vacation.
Now,
excuse me while I head to the beach with my family and indulge in a few
good books I have been meaning to read. Life, when you allow it, is
really good.