Adults talk about being stressed, but we can sometimes forget that children experience stress too. They can be affected adversely by what may seem like little things such as a new sibling, a variation in their daily routine or a change in their environment. As a parent, you can\u2019t stop all stress in your kid\u2019s life, but you can help them develop healthy ways to cope with this common issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Make sleep a priority.<\/strong> 2. Prepare your kid to deal with mistakes.<\/strong> 3. Encourage your child to express his\/her anxiety.<\/strong> 4. Help your child to problem solve.<\/strong> 5. Stay Calm<\/strong> Anxiety and stress can be a big struggle, and often the source of a child\u2019s anxiety changes over time so it can feel as though you are always putting out fires. With repetition of the stress management techniques discussed here, your child will gradually learn how to lower his\/her anxiety level and cope with anxiety-provoking situations. The key is repetition, so keep it up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Adults talk about being stressed, but we can sometimes forget that children experience stress too. They can be affected adversely by what may seem like little things such as a new sibling, a variation in their daily routine or a change in their environment. As a parent, you can\u2019t stop all stress in your kid\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-wellbeing","8":"category-mental-wellbeing-for-teachers-and-tutors"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions\/444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seven-springs.co.uk\/resource-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Sleep is vital to managing stress levels. Kids need this break to rejuvenate (even more so than adults), but they\u2019re not always great at realising this. Help your child get enough sleep by creating an environment that facilitates it. For example, keep the TV and other electronic devices out of your child\u2019s bedroom. Have a calming, consistent routine to help them wind down towards bed-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to research, a lot of stress in kids comes from the fear of making mistakes. It is therefore important to teach them tolerance of mistakes and help them see that they\u2019re not supposed to do everything right, especially not on their first attempt. What\u2019s more important is knowing how to fix the problem after it happens, to make amends, learn the lesson and move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When your child expresses his\/her anxiety or sadness, don\u2019t brush them off by saying, \u2018You\u2019re fine.\u2019 This can make your child think you don\u2019t really listen or understand. Validate your child\u2019s experience by saying things like, \u2018Yes, you seem scared. What are you worried about?\u2019 Have a discussion about his\/her emotions and fear. This will encourage them to open up to you more so you\u2019re able to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you have validated your child\u2019s emotions and demonstrated that you understand their experiences, help your child to problem solve. This does not mean doing everything for them. It means helping your child to identify possible solutions to their problems. If your child can generate some ideas that you can discuss, that\u2019s great! If not, suggest a few possible solutions and ask your child to pick the one that he or she thinks would work best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children pick up on their parents\u2019 emotions and internalise them. If you are anxious, your child will feel that anxiety as well. So when you want to reduce your child\u2019s stress, it\u2019s important to approach the issue calmly. This may mean deliberately slowing down your own speech, taking a few deep breaths to relax, or working to ensure that your facial expression stays relaxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n