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 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.
“ARGH!” Eddie, your 6 year old, yells in frustration for the third time in 30 minutes.
Maybe he didn't get enough sleep last night. Maybe his allergies are acting up and he's more on edge. Maybe it's the middle of school vacation week and he's irritated with his sister. Or maybe it's all three. Whatever the reason, he needs to calm down. What can you do to help your son? You can create a calm down spot in your own home.
Sometimes, to really help deal with stress, you need to take some focused time to think and talk about your worries. However, it’s helpful to limit the amount of time that you are dwelling on these thoughts. You don’t want to be thinking about it constantly. Using a worry box is a good way to help manage stressful feelings.
Did you know that you can make your own stress balls? There are 3 different ways I’ve made stress balls. All of them use balloons, but I used 3 different materials to see how each one would feel: flour, rice and play dough. Each of them feels different and you can have your children try them all to see which one they like the most.
As a school counselor, I often had kids come into my office in a heightened state, and it was my job to be able to help them calm down and get back to work in class. I had lots of items in my room to help achieve that. It’s always easier for kids to talk about what’s bothering them when they’re doing another activity or playing a game. As a mom, I know that there are lots of things that can help my kids reset when they are having a hard time, or getting into arguments or just have on their cranky pants. Here are some of my favorite items to help kids calm down.
Mindfulness can be a helpful tool if you have a hard time managing your thoughts and emotions or if you want to improve your concentration. Mindfulness is being aware of what’s happening in the present moment. It’s not about trying to clear your mind, but allowing thoughts and emotions to come and go without judgment and familiarizing ourselves with the present moment. It takes practice to be able to do this.
