Monthly Resources – April 2023
Curated Links – Managing Stress
Add to your parent newsletter! Childhood Stress: How Parents Can Help from KidsHealth.org explains:
- That stress is a get-ready signal
- When stress can be helpful
- When stress can be harmful
This article describes positive stress, life event stress (including difficult life events and good life events), chronic stress, and traumatic stress.
Some suggested ways parents can help kids cope with stress, include:
- Using positive stress to meet goals, adapt to change, face challenges, and gain confidence
- Teaching, not doing tasks for them
- During stressful life events, provide extra support and extra stability
- As much as possible, protect kids from chronic stress and traumatic stress
- During unavoidable chronic stress help kids feel loved and safe, teach coping skills, and facilitate the following:
- Play
- Creativity
- Time in nature
- Reading
- Making music
- Time with family and friends
- During unavoidable traumatic stress provide extra support and care, seek help from a doctor or therapist, spend positive time together, and provide opportunities to use their strengths
Add to your parent newsletter! Managing Stress for a Healthy Lifestyle from the American Psychological Association encourages parents to:
- Evaluate their lifestyle in terms of stress and health
- Communicate with their children about stress and problem solving
- Create healthy environments for their families
- Focus on healthy eating, physical activity, and adequate sleep
- If changing behavior, choose just one at a time to change
Add to your parent newsletter! Endorphins: Boosting Your Mood the Natural Way from Nationwide Children’s® discusses the role of endorphins in helping to:
- Relieve stress
- Block pain
- Improve mood
- Reduce anxiety
- Reduce depression
- Improve self-confidence
Endorphins are released when we engage in pleasurable activities such as:
- Physical activities like dancing or swimming
- Creative pursuits like cooking or painting
- Musical engagement, whether listening or playing
- Social activities like talking and laughing with others
- Quiet activities like reading or putting a puzzle together
Parents are encouraged to have their children take breaks from homework or rehearsal to engage in activities that produce endorphins. If a child is not enjoying better moods after these breaks, or is suffering from severe depression or anxiety, parents should consult their pediatricians.