Are you wondering how to help your kids stress less?
Kids that are stressed out will likely look tired and be agitated. They may not get much enjoyment out of life and may show signs of fear or worry. If you are noticing signs of stress in your child, you may want to contact a doctor for advice. There are some practical things you can do at home to help reduce the amount of stress in your child’s life, though. Let’s look at a few of those.
How to Help Your Kids Stress Less – Talk It Through
Sometimes, what is stressing your kids out is that that are trying to bear all of the emotional burdens in their life for themselves. They may have some concerns or worries that you need to address. If you find out what has them stressed, you may be able to help with it. You can at least let them know that they are not alone and that you are there for them. You can offer ways to help them deal with the situation, and they might not know how to deal with the problem on their own. That could be why they are stressed- the problem just seems too big and there doesn’t seem to be any solution.
How to Help Your Kids Stress Less – Give Them a Distraction
Not all problems that cause stress can be solved just by talking about them. Some of them are going to take time to work through. Your kids may be stressed about upcoming tests. You may be able to help them feel a bit better and soothe some of their worry, but until the test is over, they will likely continue to stress.
What helps is to give them something to distract them. You can take your kids on an outing, to play at the park, go out to eat, or do a little shopping. You may want to find a distraction at home, by letting them watch a movie, play a video game, or do a craft. These kinds of things can get their mind off of what is stressing them. Even if the distraction doesn’t help them to stop stressing completely, it can give them a break from the stress for a while. Sometimes, that is all you can do for them, and that can be a big help.
Do also take a look at my post on growth mindset quotes for kids
Help Them Prepare
When you talk to your stressed kids and find out what is bothering them, you may realize that they are stressed about something they just don’t feel prepared to handle. Let’s go back to the earlier example of an upcoming test. If your child is worried that they won’t do well on a test, that is probably because they lack confidence in their ability or their knowledge. You can assist them with that by helping them study and equipping them for the test.
Whatever the problem may be, you can help your kids to prepare to handle it. They may just need some help, and the enormity of the problem and the stress it brings can overwhelm them so they can’t even start preparing in their own. A lot of kids just need some help to get started when they are stressed about something that is coming up in their lives. With their parents’ help, they can get what they need to get started, and then they may be able to finish preparing on their own.
Just let your child know that you are available and that you will assist however you can. Being that rock for them will help them to start preparing for what is up ahead.
How to Help Your Kids Stress Less – Give Them a Break
The stress your kids are experiencing may be at least partially because they are overworked. They might not have much time to themselves, and they may feel like they have too much work to do. just because your kids are stressed, that doesn’t mean you’re giving them too much work, but it can feel like that to them sometimes. It may help your stressed kids to get a break. You can get them some time off from their chores, perhaps a few hours to themselves or even the whole day to let them relax and destress.
You may not have time to do all their chores for them, which is why you might want to hire a professional manhattan cleaning service for some of the housework or hire someone to cut the yard in their place. Whenever the chores are that you give to your children that you want to give them a break from, you may be able to find someone else to do it for them or you may be able to add it to your own schedule.
Help Them See Their Problems as They Are
To children, problems in life can sometimes appear a lot bigger than they really are. If they’re encountering some task or some problem that they’ve never had to deal with before, it may seem impossible to them. You may not always be able to help them through the problem and assist them in doing some work that they’re stressed about, but you can help them to see the problem for what it is. In their mind, it may be enormous, but you can put things in perspective for them and maybe share experiences that you had about dealing with the same problem. Let them know you understand that you see the problem, but also share with them the reality of the situation.
The problems that seem to be big ones may not be as big as your children think they are. Once you help them to realize that, they may not stress as much and they may start to have some confidence in their ability to handle the problem.
Closing Thoughts on How to Help Your Kids Stress Less
Keep in mind that your emotions and your stress will affect how your children feel. If you can stay calm and reassuring, that will help your kids to settle down and not feel as worried and stressed. You can be a calming influence when life seems very stressful for them.
How to Help Your Kids Stress Less resources
365 days of calm brings daily inspiration to help your kids stress less
How to Help Your Kids Stress Less is a feature post – you might also like my post on how to raise emotionally healthy kids
