By Lori Lite
Reducing stress can be as easy as ABC for you and your family. This ABC list makes it fun for children to pick a letter, read, and implement a tip that will reduce stress for the day. When children step through the academic door to learning they also open Pandora’s Box of stressors. Preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, or college. It is never to early or late to fill your child’s backpack with the ABCs of decreasing stress.Parenting expert Michele Borba suggests: Print this out and place on your refrigerator. Have the kids choose a letter each day and focus on the tip!
A- Affirmations = Positive Statements= Less Stress
B- Be aware of over-scheduling
C- Counteract stress with relaxation and stress management techniques
D- Deep breathing will decrease anger and anxiety
E- Exhale and say ahhhh….
F- Focus on relaxation and sleep will follow
G- Go for a slow family walk
H- Hope will decrease anxiety and fear
I- Imagine a positive outcome
J- Juggle less
K- Keep it simple, keep it fun
L- Laughter is a stress reducer
M- Music calms, soothes, and uplifts
N- Negative thoughts can be replaced with positive
O- Organizing eliminates chaos and frustration
P- Playing is essential
Q- Quiet time is part of life
R- Relaxation can be incorporated into each day
S- Stop the chatter in your head
T- Teens or toddler. We all need downtime and coping skills
U- Understand that a stressed life means something is out of balance
V- Visualizing increases creativity
W- Waste time and be happy about it
X– XOXO kids, teens, we all relax with a hug or a kiss
Y- Young or old can learn stress management
Z- Zap stress, anxiety, fear…Live in joy, hope, balance
One sure way to decrease stress is to introduce your family to relaxation music. Homework, bedtime, carpool… anytime you want to de-stress. Enjoy our line of Relaxation Music CDs or our stories for children that incorporate stress management techniques and get ready to feel good!
Indigo Dreams shorter stories with relaxation techniques for younger child.
Indigo Ocean Dreams longer stories with relaxation techniques for older children.
Indigo Teen Dreams guided instructions with relaxation techniques for teens.
Indigo Dreams: Adult Relaxation guided instructions with relaxation techniques for adults.
Indigo Dreams: Garden of Wellness stories for all children with relaxation techniques .
So clever, Lori, and so many helpful tips! I’ll be sharing this blog on my social media sites.
No doubt researchers have traced some genetic component to how individuals handle stressful situations. It almost sounds like that old debate of nature vs. nurture. While genetic coding determines many things in our lives, good parenting and a supportive but not pressure-filled home environment also make a difference in how
our young students respond to tests. Good parenting with patience and encouragement can play a big role in how students handle their situations.
This issue of handing the stress in testing begs the question of how did our educational system get to the point where testing and achievement scores became more important than the importance of learning and growing. In the extreme, it seems some parents and students want the knowledge poured into them to get a high score. The better known colleges have set ever higher benchmarks to screening their applicants, even though students that do not meet that arbitrary benchmark may be very capable.
The push for achievement and accountability in our public schools is understandable, but the real question for families, educators and policy makers is to what degree do we want this accountability, that the joy and love of learning is replaced by a struggle to get higher scores. Teachers too may have to get back to teaching and inspiring their students. Is it asking too much of our educational system for teachers to instill a love of learning and inspiration instead of making sure they meet some quota?