Parenting with Less Stress and More Joy

There is no harder job than being a parent. Nothing else touches so much of a person so deeply—or so unpredictably—and there is no training for it. This was true pre-COVID, as the pace of life accelerated, media influences intensified, and the future grew less predictable. After four challenging years, it’s no wonder parents now find it harder to be confident and reduce their children’s stress — and their own.

The Collegiate Parent Association (CPA) and the Wichita Collegiate Leadership team enjoyed partnering to bring nationally renowned psychologists, former teachers, and former child and family therapists Rob Evans and Michael Thompson to campus in September. Dr. Rob Evans and Dr. Michael Thompson outlined the dilemmas mentioned above and worked with both our parents and faculty to come up with concrete methods for successful coping.

A group of our expert faculty from across all divisions shared age/developmentally appropriate insights and strategies on helping children persevere through their challenges and be able to know what to do when they don't know what to do. Panelists included Prekindergarten Teacher Maisy Abdul, 8th Grade Math Teacher Daniel Baker, Athletic Director Mitch Fiegel, 5th Grade History Teacher Martha Leaf, Humanities Teacher Kevin Mykel, and Lower School Science Teacher Jena Simms.

Children today do not have as many opportunities to practice self-management, to make quick decisions, or to have adventures sans parents as other generations of children have had. With much of the freedom, independence, and family responsibility erased from centuries of childhood, our young people still need to practice these skills necessary for adolescence and adulthood. So, how do parents examine the gap and find opportunities for this to happen? During the workshop, former WCS teacher and administrator Bunny Hill discussed several topics, including experiences that uncover strengths and talents, relationships that are rich and diverse, habits that lead to productivity and achievements, consequences that are instructive, challenges that stretch your child/ren, routines and traditions, responsibilities at home, in the neighborhood, at school, in the community, and within your faith, and ways for parents to honor the expanding sense of self.