Why Self-Care and Renewal in Schools? - Page 2 of 5

Recognizing this need for sharing with others, the last part of the journey will help us explore how to help others learn how to develop habits of self-care. We will begin with our students and then, briefly, our colleagues. The emphasis on students is intentional, for they are the ones to whom we bear the greatest responsibility.

Young people today face many stressful and even life-threatening situations. Daily, the media informs us about the increasingly dangerous environment in which many children exist. The environment in which they live is often characterized by a host of negative influences and frightening events. Children suffer from dysfunctional and broken families where adults have no time or energy for them. Abuse and violence is committed against children by parents and trusted adults. Children are left to fend for themselves and/or take care of each other. Their neighborhoods are riddled with pervasive use and marketing of illegal drugs and alcohol, drive-by shootings, and gang-related activities. Children within these environments have responded in ways which are to be expected: crimes are being committed by younger and younger children, teen suicides have increased, younger and younger children are using of recreational drugs, and children becoming parents themselves.

The youth who have not yet given up on school bring all of this external strife and internal stress to school with them. These are definitely the "highest-risk" students.

Although these situations are very real for many students, other American children do no live in environments which are as nonsupportive or stressful.

They are likely to be cared for by at least one parent, or perhaps a grandparent, who makes sure that the children's basic needs are met. Most kids are provided with some type of home, fed fairly regularly, clothed adequately, provided with at least basic medical care, and sent off to school most days. Yet even some of these children are considered "high-risk" because their home environments are unstable and unsupportive. The children are not challenged or stimulated to grow and to thrive, or they are not acknowledged and valued for their inherent worth.

Regardless of the types of stressors in children's lives, they can benefit by learning about the meaning and dimensions of self-care and wellness. Even in the best of circumstances, young people today can get overwhelmed by fears and insecurity, suffer from low self-esteem, lack self-confidence, are unable to be assertive without getting aggressive, don't know how to keep their emotions under control without squelching them entirely, and/or can't seem to find meaning and purpose in their lives. They need to know how to build and strengthen their resiliency in order to cope with the stresses of their daily lives.