Pause Button

I need a pause button for my school life.

Hubby and I were listening to a sports TV show, and the two hosts were bickering back and forth. This was on a Friday evening, and my patience had run low. I took the remote, pointed it at the television, and clicked the pause button. I sighed, and I realized as I told Hubby, "I need one of these at work."

I've gotten better at pausing during the school day. Before school, I may listen to a minute of the HeadSpace app and just breathe five deep breaths. During my lunch period, I make sure I stop working for a bit and listen well to my peers/friends. After school, for sure, I sit down with Hubby (outside - ahhhh), we share our day, and then sometimes I just sit and soak up the sights and sounds around me.

There are times, however, when I react (poorly - not my best self, that's for sure) at school. It's happened twice this year - both times on a Friday afternoon - when I get so worked up, my blood pressure rises, my patience goes out the window, and I'm close to tears on my way home solely because of interactions in my last class. I've noticed it's usually when one child (or two or three in that class) keeps talking back to me about something they're upset about. I KNOW I won't "win" that discussion / power struggle. I've been reminded of it many times - from experience, from the awesome behavior book Running the Room (Tom Bennett), from another book Pause, Ponder, and Persist in the Classroom (Julie Schmidt Hasson), from the professional development I attended ("The more you yak, the worse they act..."), from MORE experience... and yet STILL... sometimes a seventh grader has me wrapped around their finger and I fall for it - AGAIN. 

I just made myself a pause button. I put a button on the top of my ID tag.

At least half of us (me) in the discussion/argument will pause. It's all I can control.

When I do take that pause, I will close my eyes, take a deep breath, and either walk away from the situation or let the student know we'll continue the discussion later if necessary.