Mental Health and Emotional Wellness at School Creating the Best Educational Atmosphere for Children By Bentley Murdock
As our children navigate the final home-stretch of this school year, it is the perfect time to reflect on how the year was spent and what the overall outcomes are. Some children greatly expanded their learning, made new friends, ventured outside of their experiential comfort zones, and are excited for what the next school year might bring. Many parents have been happy with the school atmosphere, the dedicated teachers, the administration, and the content of the curriculum. Overall, southern Utahns are fortunate to live in an area with as much freedom as we and our children enjoy. For the most part, we are amazingly fortunate to have so many options for schooling in the Saint George area. From public and charter school systems to private, collaborative, and homeschooling options, there are plenty of avenues through which our children can approach learning.
Unfortunately, there were many children who desperately whiteknuckled their way through the thickest of anxiety and depression during the last couple of years, doing the best they could with their resources. Some of these children were lost to suicide, in part due to the combination of pandemic-induced fear, worry, medicalfreedom and physical-autonomy suppression, and incessant bullying from their peers. For those families whose entire lives were turned upside down, I speak for all of us when I say, “I am so saddened and remorseful that somehow we, as a community, couldn’t do more to prevent the loss of your infinitely precious child.” Many parents have strong feelings and concerns about what has been taking place in their children’s classrooms: subversive curriculum content, religious guilt, shaming, confusing gender 40 www.sghealthandwellnessmagazine.com
role misappropriation, age-inappropriate and preferential politics, medical and constitutional freedom suppression, preferential racial inequality, physical autonomy denial, and even outright prejudice, favoritism, racial stereotyping, and utter neglect. A “woman scorned” could never hold a candle to the wrath of a dedicated and loving parent whose child is intentionally being mistreated, misled, or misguided. It’s critically important to research and consider all available options as to what might be the best fit for each of your own children’s education. For most, the biggest factors are core values, curriculum, budget, and geographic location. I’m sure many families would love to be looking into an expensive private school, but their budget simply won’t allow it. Numerous others would love to hear from that gem of a charter school, but the lottery system never seems to spin in their favor. So then what? Do we really just send our kids off to the nearest state institution and hope for the best? Or is there some other way of pooling resources to craft a customized education model that can serve the children of our community without financial exclusivity or selection bias?
As family lifestyle wellness coaches, everything we do is about researching, investigating, asking questions, trouble-shooting, and gathering information from every possible angle. In order to know how to get where we’d like to go, we first must have a solid grasp on what the ideal future outcome could look and feel like. “The unaimed arrow never misses,” so if our target is specific, well-defined, realistic, and open-mindedly collaborative by nature, I’m thoroughly convinced those ideal outcomes are all within reach.
