Episode 29: The Need for Rest
Engaging, challenging, and empowering parents in raising well-rounded children through combining educational research to everyday life.
LISTEN NOW
on today’s episode…
Sleep isn’t the only way to rest... additionally, different personalities rest in different ways. In this episode, Dr. Cagle teaches rest strategies to try at home that will be beneficial during these last few summer days and how to implement them throughout the school year starting super soon as well
insights
Have you ever thought about how you act when you’re tired? What about how your kids behave when they’re tired?
● Summer break– are you resting? Are your kids resting?
● School year:
○ Start school mid August
○ September– Labor Day
○ October– Columbus Day
○ November– Thanksgiving Break
○ December– Christmas Break
○ January– Martin Luther King, Jr.
○ February– Presidents Day
○ March– Spring Break
○ April– Good Friday
○ May– end of school and summer break starts again Use summer breaks for 2 things:
1. to teach your child how to rest and recharge
2. To learn strategies they can take along with them throughout the school year.
Let’s talk about each of those points.
1. Teaching your child to rest and recharge:
a. Bedtime, naps, turn on instrumental music, reading time, schedule to watch
a relaxing movie, sit outside and watch a storm blow through, take a walk
and talk about the flowers you see, etc.
b. Do you know if he/she is an introvert or extrovert?
i. Did you know that introverts recharge from alone time and extroverts from time with people?
ii. Empower your child with this knowledge and be intentional about creating these opportunities for them.
2. How can they take these strategies throughout the school year with them?
a. Have a strict bedtime routine. Making sure they get enough sleep is really
important for their brains to develop and for learning to take place in the classroom.
2
b. Encourage them to do at least one thing that makes them rest and recharge on a daily basis.
c. Going back to personalities... if they know social hour helps them recharge, make sure to incorporate those times for them! If they need peace, quiet, and alone time, even if there are 3 other siblings in the house, tell them it’s ok to be by themselves (and teach the siblings to respect those requests).
As you encourage this pursuit of rest for your children, I want to ask you a final question– are you resting too? Can you apply these strategies to your personal life and say you’ve been implementing them? Or are you so burned out with your job that your family gets leftovers (i.e., yelling, little conversations– just because you’re so tired)?
Think about the need your kids have for rest, but also make sure you’re taking the time to recharge yourself as well. It’ll be a much more pleasant home that