Seven Stress Reduction Techniques to Try with Children
Like adults, children can experience stress. Whether it’s a toddler handling a new routine in his childcare setting or a school-age child coping with a friend moving away, youngsters need help from the adults in their lives to develop the tools to manage their stress. As with adults, stress can show up in a variety of ways in children. It can look like anxiety, aggression, poor sleeping habits, difficulty eating and withdrawal from others, just to name a few. It’s important for caregivers to notice signs that a child needs a break and employ strategies that work for each child.
Each child – like each adult – will have preferred calming activities and will benefit from practicing them when they are calm. Incorporating a variety of stress reduction techniques into their day-to-day routine can help avoid big blowups and can provide children with tools to recover more quickly when blowups do happen.
What You Can Do
The stress reduction techniques below offer a few ways caregivers can support young people in managing stress. They can be implemented by any caregiver, whether at home, school or elsewhere in the community.
1. Build connections.
Take time every day to create calm and nurturing connections with the child. These connections offer the best chance for co-regulation.
2. Regulate your own emotions before engaging.
When difficult situations arise with a child, calm yourself before engaging. Use your own coping strategies to ensure you are in control of your emotions when you address the child. According to Bruce Perry, PhD, nationally renowned psychiatrist and founder of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, “a regulated, calm adult can regulate a dysregulated child, but a dysregulated adult can never calm a dysregulated child.
3. Provide consistent routines.
Knowing what to expect can go a long way toward creating a calm environment.
4. Explore and label feelings.
Take time each day to explore and label feelings. It’s helpful for children to be able to label their emotions and the only way they can do that, is if they have the words for them. Try using stories, photographs or music. Offer a special time for children to share how they are feeling. One activity for younger children is to have them look in a mirror and act out “mad,” “sad,” or “scared.”
5. Go outside.
The stress-reduction benefits of spending time out-of-doors are well documented. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as taking a walk around the block or playing in the backyard.
6. Calm things down.
Some children benefit from a calmer atmosphere. Try reducing sensory input with soft lighting, soft music or silence, and a place to get away from activity for a while.
7. Rev things up.
Yes, I know we just said calm things down but for some kids, the opposite is true. It comes down to knowing the unique needs of the child. For kids who like to “work off” their stressful feelings, it can be helpful for them to have a healthy outlet for more physical activities like throwing or stomping. You might try offering the child a safe place to throw something soft – a bucket of beanbags paired with a target on the wall, for example. Another idea is to provide a location for the child to “stomp it out.” Place construction paper feet on the floor and allow the child stomp on them as hard as they can.
Getting Stress Under Control
In small doses, stress can be good. We know this as adults. It can help us focus our attention, keep us motivated and help us achieve our goals. But we also know that excessive stress is bad for us. Not only does it not feel good, it can wreak havoc in other areas of our lives such as our physical health and relationships.
Now imagine being a young person experiencing high levels of stress, without understanding it and without possessing any skills to manage it. It would be awful! Thankfully, nurturing caregivers can provide young people with the stress reduction strategies and skills they need to overcome their stressors. These strategies will not only make their day-to-day feel more manageable now, they will empower them with the knowledge and coping skills they need to be successful later in life.
Contributed by Iselin Dimacchia and Arnell Scott, early childhood mental health consultants for PEP Early Childhood Plus.