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Welcome to Siena's blog, your source for helpful, cutting-edge resources tailored to teachers, parents, and other advocates in the learning differences community. We are dedicated to providing a wealth of curated knowledge spanning various topics, ranging from dyslexia advocacy and awareness to classroom teaching strategies, heritage month profiles, and social and emotional health.
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Posts Tagged "self-care"
Maintaining Routines During Long Breaks and Schedule Transitions
January 07, 2026
Avg. read time 5-6 minutes
Healthy Routines for Parents and Children
Picture this:
It's a 2-hour weather delay, you’re already feeling the stress of the day because this means going into superhero mode. You still have to start work on time and make a miracle happen by finding childcare. You muscle through and make it work. You realize you are more stressed out than usual and not responding to familiar situations as you typically would.
You and your child are impacted because changes in routines bring many challenges. You may notice your child is more stressed, more forgetful, and more emotional than usual. This makes for a tough day ahead.
Learning is difficult because they are having trouble focusing and are easily distracted. Maybe they have been masking all day (so have you) and when they get home, all the emotions they have been suppressing are released when you ask them to pick up their coat off the floor. This could be just from a weather delay or another seemingly minor schedule disruption!
Thankfully, you’re not alone in these experiences. In my role as Siena’s counselor, I often remind families that there are plenty of ways to handle situations like this — to everyone’s benefit.
Learning Differences and Neurodiversity
Any time there is a change in routine or unstructured time, there is likely an accompanying increase in dysregulation. This is especially true for individuals with learning differences and neurodivergence. It is hard for children (and adults) to stay anchored in routines, especially with long breaks and altered schedules.
I can’t promise there won’t be days like this (sometimes it seems more often than not); however, I can offer support in developing ways to (1) Anchor your own emotional resilience and (2) Maintain routine throughout school breaks to reduce the frequency of dysregulation.
Children will often pay more attention to what adults do rather than what they say. Emotional resilience does not have to start at a crisis point, though: it starts with daily routines that foster grounding, self-care, and refueling your battery.
Self-Care Tips for Parents and Children
Here are 5 tips for you and your children to anchor in routines during long breaks or unplanned changes in schedule:
- Consistency: Stay consistent with sleep routines. Veering too much from the regular sleep routine can throw off your circadian rhythm and lead to further dysregulation. As much as possible, keep within 30-60 minutes of the normal sleep and wake times.
- Structure & Flexibility: Make a plan that is fun and provides needed structure. Aim for a balance of activities and scheduled downtime.
- Movement: Remember that movement matters — especially for neurodiverse children! All their energy needs to be released. Plan movement opportunities to help with emotional regulation and improved sleep — especially ones that can be done indoors (such as having them use an exercise ball while gaming or watching TV).
- Screen time: It’s a tough cycle to break: Too much screen time means less movement, which tends to increase dysregulation and sleep disturbances. Counteract this with Tips 1, 2, and 3 above, and set boundaries with screen time limits.
- Consistency over perfection: Connect, communicate, and get creative. Take a deep breath. You’ve got this! P.S. Remember to laugh and get silly. It’s medicine for the soul.
Now, here are 3 tips to take care of you:
- Prioritize self-care: Give yourself permission to refuel your battery. Sometimes, as caretakers, we put everyone and everything ahead of our own needs. Always remember to care for yourself so you can show up as your best self for others.
- Pause and breathe: When their angry monster comes out and pokes at your angry monster, do your best to take a pause before you react. That pause takes practice. A daily practice of grounding techniques (e.g., taking a break, drinking water, deep breathing, stretching, or journaling) goes a long way in effectively flexing your emotional resilience muscles.
- Find your routines: Schedule in your daily care routines to make it a priority and stick to it: just like you would if it were your child’s doctor's appointment. Time for refuel matters. You can’t drive on an empty tank.
Anchoring your own emotional resilience is, in part, effectively managing stress and bouncing back from challenges.
When you are able to do this, you are modeling for your child how to take care of themselves and setting the tone for a calm and safe environment. You are also teaching them that you value yourself and others by the way you choose to show up in the world.
Resources from Siena’s Blog
See other posts of interest in our Social and Emotional Health blog category, such as these about Calming Strategies in the Classroom and online and offline boundaries for teens.
The Siena School, a national leader in dyslexia education currently in its 20th year, serves bright, college-bound students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences on DC Metro area campuses in Silver Spring, MD (grades 3-4 and 5-12) and Oakton, VA (grades 3-12).
Posted in
Parents and Community
10 Experiential Self-Care Lessons in a School Day
May 21, 2020
Stress management and self-care tools are needed for our students in normal times, but it’s especially important to offer these tools now.
How do we as educators and counselors keep teaching students about self-care and stress reduction when so much has changed—and continues to do so? When possible, practicing the following exercises virtually alongside our students allows them to feel the benefits in the moment and take them outside class time.
Mindful breathing: While teaching the biology of deep breathing and its activation of the parasympathetic nervous system can be helpful, practicing the following breathing exercises can allow students to feel a sense of calm immediately after the practice. Some breathing exercises to note are:
- 4-7-8 breathing,
- 5-finger breathing,
- shape breathing (such as square breathing),
- hand tracing breathing,
- infinity breathing,
- extending the exhale by one or two breaths,
- taking 10 deep breaths.
Progressive muscle relaxation: You can guide students through a brief relaxation exercise of tensing specific muscle groups and then relaxing that muscle group completely. Continue this from head to toes. This is a great stress reliever that students can easily do on their own.
Mindfulness: There are numerous ways to practice mindfulness, many of which our students might be doing every day. Grounding exercises help students better understand the concept of paying attention to the present moment without judgment. A simple way to introduce the concept of mindfulness is to have students practice the 5 senses by naming:
- 5 things they can see,
- 4 things they can hear,
- 3 things they can feel,
- 2 things they can smell, and
- 1 thing they can taste.
Positives: Research has shown us that when people list 3 Good Things that happened during their day for a period of at least two weeks, they have lower stress and anxiety. Having students list 3 Good Things, big or small, regularly encourages them to focus on the positives in their lives. For instance, Siena teachers and students shared some early positives from our move to distance learning.
Gratitude: Ask students to write a letter of gratitude during a class and what they appreciate about a person, object, topic—or even themselves.
Emotion check-in: Create a routine in which students label how they are feeling. This can be done through a Google form or in other creative ways; educators can offer new emotional vocabulary to help students expand their (evolving) feelings.
Controlling what they can: Ask students to draw a circle on a page and write things they can control inside the circle: e.g., their attitude, their perspective, their hygiene, their next meal or drink, how they spend their time, how they care for themselves, and so on. On the outside of the circle, ask students to write things they cannot control at this time; e.g., how others act, the virus, when things will open, etc. Identifying what they can and can’t control can help assuage students’ anxiety, as well as ground them in the moment.
Creative projects: Often when students engage in creative endeavors, they are naturally practicing mindfulness. After working on a project, ask students to reflect on how they felt while doing it.
Movement: Whenever possible, add movement into your lessons. For example, there are many chair yoga poses or other quick bursts of movement that students can do. See this blog post from Siena for how teachers keep students (and themselves!) moving during online classes.
Self-care: Ask about your students’ self-care routines. Encourage them to name ways they take care of themselves. Normalize self-care and allow students to share this with one another; hearing from their peers may just encourage them to adopt a new tool. If they’re reticent about sharing, consider giving them some suggestions based on your own self-care techniques. (See below for an example of a weekly wellness challenge.)
Anxiety management and attention to mental health will continue to be important in the coming weeks and months. Getting students to think now about self-care and anxiety management not only helps them finish the school year; it also sets them up for similar practices in the summer when they might miss the structure of school.
As teachers, counselors, parents, and others in students’ support networks are caring for our whole selves, we can keep ensuring that students know how to care for themselves and others.
Posted in
Social and Emotional Health
