Written by: Carisa Cole Sharrett, Founder/CEO of Bravely Intentional Life and the Empowered Mom Blueprint program creator
One of my favorite things to work on with parents and their kids is creating more success and letting go of stress in their home. The practical tools I share with families are game-changers!
I really wish that I had these tools in my toolbox when my two boys were much younger. But I didn’t. I had to learn and gain them over time. I was able to really see the enormous potential and power these tools have when I implemented them with my “school family” in the special education classroom I led for six years.
Wow! It still makes me emotional thinking about where I started with that classroom and how it ended up. I started mid-year amongst some of the worst chaos, lack of motivation and unwanted behaviors I had ever seen.
I thought that my time being a mother to someone with autism and going through all of his challenges and behaviors along with the targeted classroom observations and experiences I had chosen as I finished my teaching degree in some of the most challenging situations would have prepared me for anything, but was I ever wrong.
I decided to immediately and fully implement the tools that I now share with the families I work with. In fact, many seasoned school leaders doubted these tools would work with the population I was assigned to, which included those students needing the highest levels of support.
I was coached to “simplify my strategies” to ensure my success and the success of my students. I remember asking my supervisor to allow me a couple of months of doing things “my way” and if she hadn’t seen any positive progress at that time, I would follow her recommendations and let go of my own plan.
Over the next six years, my class became the model and training classroom for many other teachers, instructional assistants and school staff. Why? Because these tools made all the difference!
My staff and students grew exponentially and functioned effectively because they knew what was expected, why it was expected, how they each were expected to contribute to the outcomes, when and how they needed to employ self-regulation strategies and who was responsible for what and when.
Together, we created an environment that embodied safety, belonging, purpose, teamwork, confidence and healthy habits.
As a result, I was able to watch so many of my students beam with pride recognizing all they were able to accomplish with their focused efforts and see their parents in tears of disbelief as they witnessed their child accomplish things they’d always been told were impossible.
Did this happen overnight? No way! Was it easy? Definitely not! It took vision, planning, teamwork, consistency, effort, failing, trying again, believing, never giving up and celebrating every “win” no matter how small.
In the end, it was well worth it and if I was given a re-do, I would do it all over again to empower my students to exceed the expectations everyone (including themselves) had pre-determined for them.
How about you? Could your family use a boost in success and find ways to feel less stress? It all starts with being on the same page as a family – which is often easier said than done.
I’d love to share with you my four steps for more success and less stress at home with your kids which starts with creating your Family Why.
I’d love to come alongside you and share some of the amazing tools I’ve gained over the last 16 years! Why spend 16 years figuring it all out yourself when I can help you streamline that process and start living the life you so deeply desire now?
Carisa Cole Sharrett is the Founder/CEO of Bravely Intentional Life and the Empowered Mom Blueprint program creator. Her passion is fueling others for empowered living. In addition to being a “Mom” to a young man with autism and intellectual disability, a baseball lover (Go Yankees!) and a movie enthusiast, she holds a Master of Education in Special Education degree, is a Certified Special Needs Life Quality Coach and serves as an Accountability Group Facilitator and Leadership Learning Guild member for the National Society of Leadership and Success.