QOTD 11-7-13

[sarahisis]

How do you deal with stress? And how have you taught your children to deal with it?

[bunsy]

Not well. Eat. Cry. Freak out. Sleep. Avoid
It's probably good I didn't teach my kids how to deal with stress. Those aren't very helpful methods.

[apryllraye87]

Same as Bunsy - eat, cry, sleep, avoid.

I'm TRYING to be patient and teach DS to calm down when he's dealing with stress. We close our eyes & count, or make lists, it really depends on the situation.

[ReneeW]

I try to exercise or meditate if I'm feeling stressed out. I don't meditate often but would like to get into it for "life calming" purposes. I'm teaching my kids to do it, actually. Some nights at bedtime we'll all lie down and I'll go through relaxation with them, slowing and listening to their breathing, relaxing all their muscles, etc. and then we'll do a prayer at the end. Now my 5YO even asks, "Mom, can we meditate tonight?" It's a good way to quiet them down and get them into a "ready for sleeping now" mental state.

[sarahisis]

Sleep and watch tv for me... or if the stress is caused by everything overwhelming then I'll make lists to prioritize
I try to teach p to relax and breathe when he's stressing, or these days, freaking out... he has a quiet spot that we use instead of a time out spot and sometimes he goes there himself.

[dara1012]

Not well. I get really upset and take it out on DH when I am overwhelmed. I can be super calm and professional at work, but the moment I get home I let it out. I also eat food I shouldn't.....

[ladyandrearose]

My stress relief tends to be food or even worse, reading AND eating food. I am trying to switch stress relief to exercise. I've made slow progress. I haven't taught DD much about stress relief. I try to allay her fears with telling her it is ok to make mistakes if we learn from them. At 6, I don't think there is a lot of stress there.

[apryllraye87]

That sounds cool @reneew! I bet DS would love that. Did you find different methods from a book, or just things you've found work for you?

[ReneeW]

Hey apryllraye87! This is random, but back when I was a cross country runner in high school, our coach would have us do mental visualization once a week. Back then (20+ years ago) it was pretty cutting edge for high school athletics, now a lot of athletes do it. I borrowed the relaxation portion of the exercise for my kiddos.

Basically what I do is have my kids lie down, lights off, and I say in a very soothing voice (with pauses between) things like, "Listen to your breath …. Inhale … Exhale …. let your breathing slooooooow." etc. then I have them think about relaxing their muscles in stages from toes to head, with words like, "Feel your back sink into your bed …inhale …. exhale …. feel your head relax into your pillow …." and have them listen to their breathing and let their breathing slow down. Sometimes I'll have them say a mantra as they breathe out, like "Peace" or something, and have them think about feeling safe, comfortable, secure, whatever phrases I think are soothing to them. Then we finish with a little prayer and they are all nice and sleepy and peaceful.

Anyway … I'm sure there are a lot of resources out there and people much more knowledgeable than I -- but at this point it works for us! I really should look up some pointers on line or something I suppose, but so far so good!

[apryllraye87]

I love it! We're going to try it tonight