More than ever – or at least we are hearing more about it – our children are stressed! We have a society of children filled with anxiety and depression…often times crippling. As I mention in my book, as parents we need to help them work on this from an early age.
Children deal with so much…school, bullying, peer pressure, trying to fit in, the pressure of getting goods grades, learning disabilities, the push to get into the best colleges, over-scheduling of activities, trying to please their parents, chaos at home, social media, constant competition with their peers, hormonal changes, and much more.
I always think about the fact that each member of a family leaves home in the morning and are off doing their “thing” during the day. They reunite later in the day with no sense of what each other went through. Therefore, we are unsure as to why a child is grumpy, a mother feels overwhelmed, a father has a short fuse. That is why it is so important to spend some time in the evening talking about each other’s day. Children need to be taught by their parents the skill of asking about one another’s day and if needed, to offer help.
If we as parents feel stressed, we tend to burden them with our issues rather than help to make their lives calmer. Children should be able to have a home life that is a safe haven. A place where they can decompress, be accepted, and loved. Children need free time to read, think, be creative, and be themselves.
There are many things that parents can do to help alleviate stress for both their children and themselves. Meditation, yoga, walking, talking, planning for outings, playing board games, and a lot of loving hugs.
I believe that children’s mornings need to move along as calmly as possible, as the mood in the home will set them up for their day along with the pressures that they feel if there is chaos in the home.
Parents need to take care of themselves so that they can better care for their children.
Even at the age my son is, I still touch base with him once a day with a phone call or a text, letting him know that I am thinking about him, and that I love him.