Topic #14 Another tip to help reduce stress in kids!
Time for a new tip on reducing stress in kids! Before you can teach this to your kids, you need to do it yourself!
First…Where in your body do you feel stress? Close your eyes and think back to the last time you felt stress – maybe you felt it today. Try to imagine where your body holds your stress. Is it in your chest, jaw, hands, stomach? Once you figure out where your stress lands in your body, now try to understand what it feels like. Tight, tingly, painful, shaky?
You can teach your kids these exact techniques to help them learn about their mind-body connection. In fact, I use something like this outline of a body in my sessions with kids to use visuals to see what they are learning.
Whenever possible, give kids the option of using their creativity by drawing out what their stress feels like (i.e., butterfly represents upset tummy, a hammer represents headaches, etc.). Make learning about their stress fun, because remember, STRESS IS NOT THE ENEMY!!! We don’t want to rid ourselves of stress, we just want to learn to recognize and manage it better so that it doesn’t take over and “trick” our brains into thinking we are in danger when we really aren’t.
Once your kids know where they hold stress and how it feels in their bodies, they can then implement the bubble technique to learn deep breathing! See if their symptoms disappear after they use their coping skills. Does it work for you?
There are many more fun and easy, interactive and creative ideas to follow! Now go have fun with your kids!
