Have you ever noticed how many times we all use the term stress in our day-to-day life. Nowadays, stress has become the new normal affecting almost every age group. The symptoms of stress are very common in children and adolescents, with 20 to 30 percent of school-aged children. So how can you help to reduce your child’s stress? Let us begin with talking about how to focus on the positive thoughts.

Talk About Child’s Positive Attributes: The more you are able to focus on your child’s positive attributes and the good aspects of a situation, rather than talking about negatives, the more it is going to help your child focus to on the positives.

Include Sports and Yoga in Daily Routine: The lifestyle of a child has become quite busy these days. To combat stress, it is important for the children to relax and be kids. Activities like sports and yoga should be encouraged, ensuring that the child must engage in the activities purely for the sake of fun and relaxation. This may include scheduling time each day for your child to play a game, play a sport or a dance or yoga session. Practicing relaxing breathing exercises with your child will help them to remain calm in many situations and will give you and your child more time to spend together.

Encourage Healthy Eating Habits: Encouraging healthy eating habits and good sleeping hygiene is an underrated de-stressing therapy in today’s world. This may sound cynical but it is very effective in the cognitive development of the child.

Appreciate Good Attitude & Behaviour: Often we feel that it is necessary for our children to succeed in sports, school, and performance situation. There is a pressure on the child, which leads to stress. It is important to encourage your child to work hard but equally important to accept their mistakes and imperfections. Rewarding your child for facing their fears and mistakes with a hug or a small treat will work wonders for them in the long run. If you reward behaviors, your child will engage them in more often.
Try to inculcate few of the above mentioned impactful techniques to make your child stress-free. I will sum up this blog with a beautiful quote- “If you wish to fly, you will have to give up everything that weighs you down including stress”.

Written By:- Ms. Priyanka Shukla, Teacher, Primary Wing, MRIS-Charmwood