By STUART SINGER

SOUTH HADLEY — As a former special education director and director of guidance services, I always felt a bit uncomfortable when our school district sent home letters to student’s families with “optimal performance” strategies during MCAS testing weeks.

Not because I didn’t want our students to perform well on MCAS, but because it always felt a bit self-serving.

You see, these tests are, in part, a way of grading us, the educators. Many of the suggestions revolved around how the students can be as mentally and physically prepared as possible during these specific test weeks. Suggestions included plenty of rest, eating a healthy and appropriate breakfast, proper hydration and not overdoing it with extra activities.

(Stuart Singer, left.)

Additionally, the teachers were asked to be judicious with homework that week. These are all examples of how to de-stress and provide the students’ bodies and minds with the appropriate rest and fuel so that they could be at their very best.

The question that I could never stop asking was, “If we know that these practices optimize the student’s ability, why were we not promoting them all year long? And why weren’t we, the professionals, modeling these behaviors more often for our students?”

I am a father of three in a dual-working parent home, so I am well aware of the pressures to run like crazy to get everything completed, and make sure that the kids do all of their school work and attend every activity. However, a very real and serious issue that is facing kids and families today is the level of stress that they are experiencing.

Teachers are not immune to this stress and, in fact, may be in the epicenter. The pressure in the classrooms to meet high standards while dealing with larger class sizes, dwindling resources and a greater spectrum of educational needs within the classroom is higher than ever.

Now, with the issue of bullying being at the forefront of every discussion regarding the social-emotional development of our children, the issue of stress and the role it plays in all of our lives needs to be discussed.

Emotional health

For a number of years now, I have been providing stress-management seminars to school staff and school administrators. These trainings focus on time management skills, exercise, appropriate rest, healthy eating and mindfulness.

When adults are chronically stressed, we are more irritable, are increasingly tired, express less patience, gain weight, lack energy, have a reduced ability to problem solve, and can become actively disengaged along with a host of other issues.

As you can see, this list of behavioral characteristics does not paint a picture of someone at his or her optimal best. The tragic, unintended consequence of this is that we teach our children that this is exactly how they should take care of their own mental and physical health.

It can be reasonably assumed that children that are feeling high levels of stress are more likely to have a shorter temper, potentially act out in emotional and aggressive ways, or become disengaged and withdrawn.

We, the educators and parents, should be modeling positive stress-management skills for our students and children.

Getting at least a half-hour of exercise, say, from walking, a minimum of three times a week, getting appropriate rest, eating three meals per day, getting organized and taking time to just re-engage with our lives are skills that will improve our overall health and, in fact, our overall performance.

Just as importantly, this sends the message to our children and students — by following these behaviors they can improve their own energy, mood, patience, and ability to stay focused.

Further, when students experience these improvements they are more likely to join productive school activities, have increased positive interactions with peers and teachers, and are less likely to turn to negative behaviors such as self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, or being emotional over-reactive which can lead to negative social interactions or even outward aggression towards peers.

While I can not say that the promotion of overall stress-management to school staff is a magic bullet for all of the difficulties faced, I can say teaching and modeling these essential life-skills can only have a positive affect on the overall school climate and serve to promote physical and mental wellness.

By caring for themselves, parents and teachers increase their mental and physical capacities to take on the incredible challenges and work that they do in guiding and leading their children and students. In turn, children can learn to take better care of themselves and others.

I believe that Benjamin Franklin said it best, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Stuart Singer is the assistant director of James Levine and Associates P.C., a psychotherapy and consulting practice located in South Hadley and Westfield.