As parents, it’s important to understand that the way we respond to emotional situations significantly affects how well our children learn to cope with their emotions. Children are continually learning to care for themselves and need guidance in expressing and understanding their feelings. Therefore, it is essential to stay attuned to your kid’s feelings and ask them how they are doing. Provide an environment where they feel safe to talk about how they feel.
It’s important to teach children positive coping skills, such as stress reduction and relaxation, as they are better able to respond to and recover from difficult situations. These skills will serve them not only in childhood and adolescence but in adulthood as well and will benefit their physical health and academic/work performance. Positive coping skills will likely decrease anxiety and behavior problems while increasing self-control, self-confidence, and positive interpersonal relations.
The first step to reducing stress is helping your child become aware of when he/she is experiencing stress. Stress exhibits itself in three ways: physiological (increased heart rate, headaches, nausea), behavioral (disturbed sleep, getting easily annoyed, being avoidant), and cognitive (difficulty concentrating, worrying, negative thinking). By helping your child learn to identify when he/she is experiencing stress, they will learn when stress-reducing or relaxation activities would be useful.
Teach your child deep breathing, which is a highly effective way to decrease stress. Practice breathing in deeply and then breathing out slowly. Repeat this a few times. With younger children, deep breathing can be easily practiced when they are put to bed. Another effective relaxation technique is progressive muscle relaxation. Focus on an area of the body, such as the arms, and tense them as much as possible for a count of ten. Then, release the muscles for a count of ten. Progress through the major areas of the body (legs, arms, shoulders, etc.). This, too, can be practiced before going to sleep.
Make sure your child gets enough rest, but not oversleeping. Children need between 11 and 12 hours of sleep per night. Furthermore, many daily activities can help lower stress, such as regular exercise, engaging in hobbies, writing in a journal, meditation, yoga, listening to soft music, and visualization.
“Each of us is a vital thread in the tapestry of each other. We are woven together for a reason”