Orkut Girlz: [TopMasala] Keep Childhood Carefree: 7 Ways to Help Kids De-Stress

By Diane Randall

AS SEEN ON THE TODAY SHOW

It's no secret that kids feel stressed just as often as adults do. At school, on the ball field, and even at home, they face pressure to be the best, or at least never, ever come in last. In a competitive world where it's important to meet the status quo, our kids are feeling the heat in ways that we may never have experienced when we were young.

A recent American Psychological Association survey confirmed that parents not only underestimate their children's stress levels, but may also fail to recognize the impact stress can have on their kids' physical and psychological health. Studies find that eight to ten percent of American kids are seriously troubled by stress and the symptoms associated with it. In fact, kids are now suffering from stress as early as three years old--a shocking reality that's sadly going mostly undetected by parents.
If children and teens don't learn healthy ways to manage stress, it can have both short-term consequences (bedwetting, short-temperedness, inability to focus on schoolwork, sleep-deprivation and weakened immunity from illness), as well as long-term health implications that can increase their likelihood for depression.

If all this talk about youth stress is starting to stress you out, you may be wondering what you can do to help your child. Here's the good news: you can teach kids to manage their stress. Even better news? Teaching your children these strategies can give you some peace of mind as well.

1. Blow your worries away. When they're stressed, kids often take quick, fast breaths from their chest instead of their stomach. As an alternative, teach young children to pretend to "blow up a balloon" in their tummy. Then have them exhale as you slowly count to three. As they exhale, have them use an exaggerated "ahhh" sound like they use at the doctor's office. Place your child's hands on his stomach so he can feel his breaths. Say, "Taking a slow, deep breath can reduce your stress and let your worries out." Kids can also practice taking slow, deep breaths using a pinwheel or bubble blower until they get the right "feel." Tell very young children to pretend that the bubbles are their worries blowing away!

2. Melt the tension. Tell your child to make his body feel stiff and straight like a wooden soldier so that every bone from his head to toes is tense (or "stressed"). Then, tell him to make his body limp (or "relaxed") like a rag doll or windsock. Once he realizes he can make himself relax, he can find the spot in his body where he feels the most tension; perhaps it's his neck, shoulders, or jaw. Then, ask him to close his eyes, concentrate on the spot--tensing it up for three or four seconds--and then let it go. While doing so, tell him to imagine the stress slowly melting away from the top of his head and out his toes until he feels relaxed.

3. Use a positive phrase. Teach your child to say a comment inside her head to help her handle stress. She can say something like, "Calm down," "I can do this," "Stay calm and breathe slowly," or "It's nothing I can't handle."

4. Visualize a calm place. Ask your child to think of a place where he feels peaceful. For instance: the beach, his bed, grandpa's backyard, a tree house. When stress kicks in, tell him to close his eyes and imagine that spot while breathing slowly.

5. Teach the stress-buster formula. It's as simple as 1 + 3 + 10. Print this formula on a large piece of paper and hang it in your child's bedroom or on the fridge. Then tell the child how to use the formula. Say the following: "As soon as you feel your body getting tense, do three things. First, stop and tell yourself, 'Be calm.' That's 1. Second, take three deep slow breaths from your tummy. That's 3. Now count slowly to ten inside your head. That's 10."

6. Make a stress box. Fill a shoebox or other container with proven stress-reducers such as a notepad and pencil (to draw or write out frustrations); a small stress ball, Play-Doh or clay to work stress out; or a music player loaded with relaxation sounds. You can add new stress-reducers to the box based on your child's preferences, and then encourage him to go to the container when the need arises.

7. Learn relaxation and breath control with yoga. Yoga can be a great way for your teen or pre-teen to sneak some relaxation into her day. In fact, many high schools are now offering yoga classes as an alternative to physical education. Purchase a yoga DVD that you can do at home together. Even better: invite another mom and daughter to join you and make yoga a weekly routine.

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Orkut Girlz

Saturday, May 8, 2010

[TopMasala] Keep Childhood Carefree: 7 Ways to Help Kids De-Stress

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