Blog
Check out our blog feed for the latest news in Self-Reg, or read articles by a specific author.
Authors
Stuart Shanker
Susan Hopkins
Aviva Dunsiger
John Hoffman
Self-Reg Community
Articles
Self-Reg Havens
As we will explore in this year's Self-Reg Summer Symposium, a Self-Reg Haven is a place where everyone feels safe in every way: physically, emotionally, socially and culturally. It's important to remember that a Haven isn't just a location. It is people, places...
What Might Co-Regulation Make Possible?
While I usually reflect the most on Self-Reg, this past week, a combination of experiences have me thinking more about co-regulation. It all started when Mr. Cumming began his ECE Field Placement in our class. He'll be joining our class for six weeks, every Wednesday...
In My Own Words: The Top 25 Things Self-Reg has Taught Me
When I started writing for TMC I saw my niche as helping people fit Self-Reg and some of the science behind it into the real world of what we already know (and think we know) from various experiences and sources. And I wanted to explore these ideas in everyday...
A Self-Reg Look At The “Return To Normal” After March Break
Tomorrow we go back to school after a week long March Break. Tomorrow will be the first time that we'll be heading back to school after March Break in two years. Along with this return, there's also a decrease in many COVID restrictions, including masking, cohorting,...
Self-Controlled Lunchtime Eating: What Role Might Self-Reg Play?
Once a week, I have a prep in the middle of the school day. With more rooms being used around the school this year, I usually end up sitting in the staffroom for my prep. Since this prep time is near the Second Nutrition Break, I often bring my lunch with me to the...
Self-Reg and Military Families
By: The MEHRIT Centre in partnership with Trenton Military Family Resource Centre Shanker Self-Reg® has 8 guiding values, which are very well aligned with the goals of Canada’s Military Family Resource Centres. 1. Shanker Self-Reg® is a universal platform (not a...
Relationships First: What Does This Really Mean And What Might It Look Like?
There are many words of wisdom from both Stuart Shanker and Susan Hopkins that I think about when contemplating Self-Reg, but one point that I return to often is that "Self-Reg begins with relationships." While I might know this in theory, never have I been more aware...
The Joyful Side Of Gift Wrapping: Finding Self-Reg In Unexpected Places
For me, wrapping presents is stressful. I never seem to get enough paper to cover the whole gift. I have high hopes to making those perfect corner folds, but the reality never seems to match my expectations. And how exactly are you supposed to wrap gifts that are not...
The Fourth Strategy
It’s that time of the year when the hook modellers have come out in full force. And boy, have they ever gotten good at their craft. All of the psychological tricks are there: the appeal to scarcity; the suggestion of crowd behaviour; the advice of some supposed...
Leading With Grace: When Children And An Administrator Teach You About Self-Reg
In our classroom, we talk about Self-Reg a lot. Children share when they're stressed. We discuss triggers. My teaching partner, Paula, has even spoken to the class about the brain, and kids use words such as the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex, when talking to us...
When Self-Reg Matters More: Thinking And Learning On The Day I Was Alone
Last week, I knew that my teaching partner, Paula, was going to be away on Wednesday for an appointment. She booked the supply in advance and all was well until her supply had to unexpectedly cancel on Tuesday night, and the job remained unfilled. Driving to school on...
The Pervasiveness of the Self-Control Paradigm
By: Betsy Lamberson If you were to take a typical scroll through my Instagram feed it would consist of a pretty even mix of posts from people I know and care about to varying degrees, various advertisements and a healthy mix of posts about parenting, spirituality and...
What is Self-Regulation—Really? Part 2: Different Definitions, Different Lenses, Different Strategies
On a practical level, the way we define self-regulation drives the way we work with children (and adults) who exhibit self-regulation challenges. Here are some examples of the difference the broader, more holistic, stress-focused definition of self-regulation, as...
Self-Reg for Teens
What is Self-Reg? Self-Reg is a way to understand and improve self-regulation by understanding and dealing with stress better. In Self-Reg we look at how we respond to stress and how those responses are related to our tension and energy levels. Self-Regulation...
What is Self-Regulation—Really? Shared understandings and language matter
Did you hear the one about two psychologists and a philosopher who searched The Google for the true meaning of self-regulation and found 447 definitions? This is not the first line of a bad joke. It actually happened. Back in 2014, Jeremy Burman, Christopher Green and...
My Doorway View: A Self-Reg Strategy That Works For Me
The other day, I had a period 4 prep. It's only one day in a five day cycle, where due to the timing of my prep, I will be re-entering play when I return. This period 4 prep is an interesting one, as my teaching partner, Paula, is also on her lunch during this time,...
Restoration, Homeostasis and Growth: Important but uniquely challenging for first-time parents
Restoration was a key central topic at SRSS 2021. In fact, throughout this entire year, Stuart and Susan have been really banging the drum for Practice 5 of Self-Reg. They even changed the name from Respond to Restore. And that’s because, to oversimplify, if we are...
Irrational Folly and Wisdom: How a primal childhood fear is helping me learn and understand more about residential schools
By John Hoffman When I was a child the worst thing I could imagine was to be taken from my home and put in a place where harsh, demanding adults had complete control over me, and my parents couldn’t help me. I had no idea that such experiences, and frankly, worse...