Has your child hit their teenage years and puberty has started? Have you noticed their emotions are changing? What about their most extreme emotions? Do you find that your teenager can feel really angry at times?
In today’s episode, Janine unpacks some strategies to help you as parents support your teenager and how to develop that connection between yourself as the parent and them.
Here’s what Janine discusses in today’s episode:
OCD can manifest itself in different ways with different obsessions and focus that are going on in your life. Children’s author, Marin Canaday describes OCD feeling like a monster devouring your emotions and feelings, where you could get to the point where you feel out of control and you begin to believe the lies the OCD obsessions tell you about yourself…
A child at Elementary School will be learning and figuring out what emotions are and what’s going on in their bodies when their ‘big feelings’ appear. They’ll be learning to put names to their emotions and trying figuring out why they’re feeling what they are.
In the moments when they feel upset, overwhelmed and unable to put words to their emotions, there are some straightforward strategies we can have in our toolkit ready to use and support this age group with.
Here are some some of the strategies discussed in today’s episode:
It’s wonderful having a home set up where you have a reset or safe space where your kids can use strategies and process their emotions. But what happens when we go out? Having coping strategies ready is just as important. Whether that’s at school, traveling, out with friends, before a medical appointment or at parties knowing what you can do outside of the comfort of your own home is really helpful.
The topics I cover in this episode are:
When you’re expecting a baby or experiencing the first year of their life, there are books which tell you all the key development growth points to be looking out for and what comes next. We don’t talk about these as well as we could as our children go through childhood and adolescents. What emotions should they be feeling at what point? Is this behavior or outburst normal?
As they grow and develop, one of the questions that gets asked is, “What does a healthy brain look like?” Our brain reacts to different pathways and it can affect our mood and responses. If we can understand the brain we can understand why we teach our children different skills and functions at key life stages and certain ages. Rebecca shares how if we can understand the brain then we can understand how to support our children’s next steps and if needed support getting them back on track.
The topics we cover…
Inside: A Child Therapist’s favorite books for kids and teens to help them deal with stress and anxiety. Use books to start talking about healthy ways to cope.
Your daughter slumps in her chair at breakfast. Recently, it’s been like pulling teeth to get her ready for school in the morning. She hasn’t touched her toast, which is really unusual - she typically has a healthy appetite. She keeps biting her nails, and hasn’t asked for a playdate in weeks!
Inside: Symptoms to look for that can help you determine if your child is experiencing stress or anxiety, and tips that can help you and your child.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your child came up to you and said “Mom, I’m quite stressed about my quiz on Friday” or “I’m really anxious about my piano recital”.
While that would be super helpful, most kids don’t have the language to express themselves that clearly. Instead, it’s up to us to be stress and anxiety detectives with our children. But what are you looking for and what do you do when you do see it?
Inside: 12 proven strategies to help your child's anxiety and help them settle in for a long night’s sleep
You're finally settling onto your couch, remote in hand and ready to start binge watching your latest Netflix obsession. You're just about to press play when you hear tiny feet padding down the hall.
“Mommy? I can't sleep. I'm scared!!”
Inside: 5 common causes of childhood stress, and 4 strategies you can use as a parent to help your child manage stress in healthy ways.
This story starts, as always, with coffee. I was in line at Dunkin Donuts, thinking about what I wanted to get done today. We were on the beach for a long weekend, but being the type A person that I am, somehow I still wanted to get some things accomplished and starting to feel a bit stressed about it. As I’m waiting for my precious beverage and mentally rearranging my to do list, I overhear a father ask his son:
Inside: Some ideas why kindergarteners might be so angry, 4 questions to ask yourself to get a better idea of what's going on, and 5 suggestions of things to try that will help.
It was happening again. Your son came off the bus and he was fuming. His face was red and his eyebrows were furrowed. His whole body was full of anger. Almost immediately, he began hitting and kicking at you. You and your husband look at each other, bewildered. What happened?!?
I’m always on the lookout for great books for kids and teens. Recently, I’ve been investigating good books to help explain and conquer anxiety. I came across the new book Anxiety Sucks! A Teen Survival Guide by Natasha Daniels and loved it!
This is a great book for teens to help them understand the underlying causes of their anxiety and work on practical steps they can take to conquer it. Here are some of my highlights:
It’s Tuesday during your weekly meeting with your boss. Your boss tells you that you’ll be leaving for a trip in a couple of weeks to meet with an important client. Your stomach clenches, but it’s not about the client. It’s about your son. He gets so anxious when you go away. It’s heartbreaking to hear him so upset on the phone. And you don’t know what to do because you need to go, but he has such a hard time.
Inside: A step by step guide for creating a coping skills toolbox for your child. This is an effective way to help kids utilize coping techniques for anxiety.
It’s Friday morning, and your daughter, like clockwork, comes down to breakfast and says “I’m not hungry at all. I can’t take my mind off my math test. I’m worried I’m going to fail and then I’ll fail the whole year and never pass 4th grade!” She puts her head down on the kitchen table and starts to cry.
