Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Gifted Teenagers What to watch out for and how to help

7 Mental Competencies 1. Tolerance for stress or anxiety 2. Energy or Mood Management 3. Willingness to work at edge of competence 4.Goal setting 5. Mental Rehearsal 6.Positive explanatory style (Optimism) 7.Reconcile affiliation/achievement conflicts

Stress is not the enemy.

“Parents should not shield or try to protect children from risks or hard work. Parents also need to allow children to experience the tensions and stress that rise form challenging ideas and high expectations.” Olszewski-Kubilius, 2000

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 1.Tolerance to stress and anxiety - developing a way to cope with stress is important. A little stress helps us perform well. Strategies for home: o Planning for down time, especially at least 1/2 hour before bed. o Completing study and assessment tasks in ‘planned chunks’ of time.

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 2. Edge of competence - in order to improve, students must be willing to take risks and work at the edge of what they can do. Strategies for home: Taking risks, like trying a new sport or eating a new food are baby steps.

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 3. SMART goal setting - Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Long term and short term goal-setting is vital. Strategies for home: Use SMART for homework tasks. For example: I want to write 500 words of my essay by 4.30, then leave it til tomorrow for editing.

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 4. Mental Rehearsal - Before attempting assessments, like speeches and exams, students should picture the scenario and imagine the positive outcome and how they got there. Strategies for home: Quiet time the day prior to a task where student should visualise their success. Then talk to them about what they see happening.

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 5. Mood Management - A Low GI diet, positive self-talk and regular exercise all create even temperament and better coping strategies. Strategies for home: A balanced low GI diet for school helps students stay focused rather than bouncing up and down. Regular exercise has a crucial link to stress management and avoiding depression/anxiety.

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 6. Positive explanatory style - How students handle failure and setbacks is important. Developing an optimistic outlook is important. Students need to see negative scenarios as a learning experience, not as a judgement. They need to realise that such experiences are short term, not fatal. Strategies for home: Try to encourage students to problem solve their own smaller tasks and allow room for failure and learning when the stakes are lower

Maureen Neihart's Habits of Mind 7. Peer, media and cultural pressures - “I want to fit in! Fitting in is more important to me than high achievement!” The ability to incorporate multiple self-identities and develop ways to balance these will help maintain achievement. Strategies for home: Openly talking about the discordance between peer expectations and their own potential. Rather than simply saying it shouldn't matter what they think, try to develop ways to blend both priorities.