Help Your Child Manage School Stress

If you’re feeling the pressures of a busy home, so do your kids may be feeling the crunch too.

Stress can affect everyone, even children. Learning how to handle the school’s demands, extra-curricular activities and friendships can be hard. When the pressures build up, children feel overloaded and worried, so helping them learn how to manage will go a long way to keep your young ones physically and mentally healthy.

One of the challenges parents face is understanding the difference between “normal worry” and signs of stress, say advisors in this field. Stress can affect social relationships, schoolwork, and a child’s happiness and emotional well-being. Children who feel stressed exhibit many of the same signs that adults do, such as headaches, having trouble sleeping or irritability.

According to a 2012 children’s mental health parents poll, there are a number of things you can do to help your child manage stress:

Model good ways of handling stress. Converse with your kids. Slow down in your actions when you are with your child. (Image credit: www.google.com)

1. Look at the sources of stress in your child’s life and adjust the things that you can change. For example, maybe your child has trouble with transitions or with pressure. Maybe she shows signs of stress at the beginning of the school year, or just before big tests. Do what you can to be more available during these times.

2. Acknowledge your child’s worries and fears. Sometimes things that seem small and unimportant to adults can seem very big and worrying to children. Be sure to let your child know that you take his or her concerns seriously.

3. Model good ways of handling stress. Talk about how you handle stressful situations. Show your child the positive ways you relax and relieve stress — whether it’s through physical activity, listening to music, taking a hot bath or shower, or reading for pleasure.

4. Slow down. Many adults lead rushed and hurried lives, and all this hurry can have a spill-over effect on children. How many times do you hear yourself say, “Hurry. We’re late.” Children can begin to feel as frazzled as adults do. Make a conscious effort to try to slow down when you are with your child.

Source: newscanada.com