It has been a tough time, it was a different time when stress, anxiety and panic that happened only after the 30s but now students as young as 14 or 15 have it. It is not a good sign, and this lockdown with absolutely no work and a lot of boredom can bring in negative thoughts, today we will discuss a few ways of stress management and how to control it.
Here were the top 5 things you can do to reduce the stress of children. But what about teenagers and college students? They are not so easy to deal with especially with this lockdown. They are the ones giving you a hard time even more than children, isn’t it? Here are five signs which can tell you whether your child is under stress or not:
- Unable to express
Teenagers often don’t express what they are feeling. They keep it to themselves. If you see they are communicating less then they might be under emotional stress. You can talk to them and if they are away from you this lockdown, try to do as many video calls as possible. This is the time we get to connect lost relations with everyone. - Anxious behaviourAll of us are in a stressful situation right now, and if your child is continuously asking about the situation, obsessing over it. The news lockdown can increase the stress, even more, it is better if you can mask them from all kinds of negative news and instead tell them positive news. The positive ones can be reduced pollution, a good recovery rate of COVID cases etc.
- Eating and Sleeping pattern
Less sleep at nights and less eating are two different signs of anxiety and stress. They may sleep very less or oversleep and have nightmares about the current situation. Track their eating and sleeping pattern and if there is a drastic change, you can always fix it. Balanced diet and positivity are the two things which can resolve this tension. - Aggressive behaviourIf you’re a working parent, you may come across this kind of behaviour. Not communicating with your children plus work from home and everyone in a lockdown can be stressful because they feel you are not giving time to them. Anger, mood swings, hyperactive behaviour, throwing tantrums, all of it can be signs of stress and anxiety. There are many hotline numbers for counselling by the government and NGOs who appoint counsellors for mental health in this hard time.
- Social MediaEveryone is connected through the internet now in this lockdown, increased use of this can be something to worry about and teens are all the time on their smartphones. They hardly connect in the real world, but the virtual one. Cyberbullying is also a thing now. To make sure your child is away from all this is to have conversations with them and give them time.
Tips to Reduce Stress:
- Manage your stress: if you’re a parent reading this, you will know that children try to adopt what their parents do, so if you are in control, they will be positive about it too. Try to keep your environment stress free and positive, the same goes for students who have younger siblings. If you keep your environment positive, nothing will go wrong. As children have an underdeveloped frontal cortex, their idea of stress can be very different from what adults’ face.
- Meditation and Yoga: this has been the best solution for years and any stressful situation. Yoga and Meditation is a mental exercise and relieves you from all kinds of anxiety and stress. Some simple breathing exercise, pranayamas and chanting are beneficial for you, your children or your siblings. It lowers their anxiety levels. Yoga is for all age groups, it is never too late or too soon. There are so many interesting ways to teach children yoga, like relating animals to yoga. A good resource to learn more is “Yoga Education for Children” by Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
- Physical Exercise: in this lockdown, all of us have become lazy and want to sit at home, and so do children. They must come out of their homes even for a little while because exercise is equally important for the mind. Exercise stimulates chemical changes and enhances mood, thinking and brain function. You must be wondering that going out for exercise is not exactly healthy for students, but not to worry there are many ways you can teach them exercise, YOUTUBE of all is a great help. Dance, Hula hoops, jump rope are a few exercises they can do during their free time. Many people are also hosting live sessions for Zumba and fitness classes online, you can join that too with your child!
- Family Time: this lockdown has given us a unique opportunity to spend time with our family, we get to play various games with them and whatnot. Similarly, if we continue to do this with children, they remain engaged and healthy. They will also learn a lot of new things with it. Games like Pictionary, business, Chinese checkers, scrabble are some cool games to spend your time with. You can also keep children busy with interesting kitchen recipes, different cooking methods etc. They will learn and also forget about anything negative happening around, also a strong family bond.
- Stop Overscheduling: children are now loaded with a lot of homework and classes right from morning 9 to 2 for a few of them. It can be stressful for them. Try to make their timetable easy and schedule things that balance with their homework and free time. They need time to rejuvenate and relax their brains.
We hope this lockdown gets over very soon and all the young people can come out to live their dream. The government has opened quite many things now but we still have to be careful about it. Stay home as much as you can!