Archive for June, 2010
Anger Management for Children Made Simple
Jun 15th
One of the most important things for parents to teach their children is anger management . One of the most important things parents need to do is help their children understand and manage their emotions. Kids need to understand that anger is a completely normal and healthy emotion, but just like any other emotion such as happiness, love, laughter, anger needs to be managed and expressed in an appropriate fashion.
The steps in helping your children learn to manage their anger are the same as the steps for adults . In essence teaching anger management skills to children boils down to 3 steps: 1) learn to recognize their anger, 2) discover ways to stay calm and, 3) show them how to express their feelings appropriately
The first step in anger management for children is to help your children understand when anger begins. Alert them to the physical symptoms of mounting anger
Help your children learn what it feels like when they are starting to get angry:
* Anger makes you breathe faster
* Anger makes your face turn red.
Your whole body feels tight when you get angry
Anger Management Tips for Children
1. Help children calm down and refocus. Take a deep breath and count to ten. If that fails give them a back up plan to think of something they love, perhaps their pet, or something humorous. This will help them feel calmer and more focused. Teach them how to take a deep breath and count to ten. If tht doesn’t work, teach them to think of something they love, such as a pet, or something they think is funny. Explain how this will help them feel more relaxed and see things in a different light.
2. Give them alternatives to anger.
e.g. If a school assignment is too hard, don’t get angry; get help from a parent or teacher .
3. Sometimes children can’t put their anger into words. Give them some crayons and tell them draw a picture of whats making them angry
Show them how to express their anger in a harmless physical way
e.g. Have a pillow fight with them
Go for a walk or a bike ride
5. Reward your child with your attention when they manage their feelings. Believe it or not, praise and just spending time with your kids has been shown to be much more powerful reinforces than gifts, money or food
Finally, tell your child that everyone (even you) gets angry. Part of being a good role model is letting your children know that you are susceptible to anger, too. Let your child know about a time when you were angry and anger management helped you successfully resolve the problem in a positive way. Following these 5 simple anger management tips will show your children how to recognize and manage their feelings in a safe and mature fashion.
Understanding Worry and Anxiety
Jun 14th
Worry and Anxiety — What Are THey really?
At some time in our life we are bound to be plagued by worry. Most people will face a time when worry and fear take hold and our repetitive thoughts can torment us. It is impossible to change what has already happened and worrying about what might happen is unproductive and draining. Two common phrases recur with this type of thinking and they are “What if?” and “If only…” Well we can’t change the “if only” because what has happened is past and nothing can undo that. And worrying about “what if” only wastes our time and energy. It is better to focus on what you do want rather than fearing the worst.
<a href=”http://www.worryandanxiety.com/”>Worry and anxiety</a> are not to our benefit and can in fact be damaging to our health and lead to depression.
All of us at certain times in our life have felt periods of worry. An overload of difficulties in our life we can be engulfed with thoughts of how to get through them. We have an amazing ability to be able to remember past events and visualise future possible events.
Sometimes these thoughts of worry can be overwhelming, particularly if we do not have tools to interrupt the pattern. Too much of the stress hormone cortisol in our body can be damaging to our mental and physical wellbeing. Our bodies are prepared to face danger or escape from the situation.
Although cortisol, sometimes known as “the stress hormone”, is an important hormone in the body, which is secreted by the adrenal glands, it is secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and can be responsible for several stress-related changes in the body.
We have an amazing ability to create harmful, negative images in our mind which can seem so real. However, fortunately the corollary is also true and we can interrupt and change our patterns of thought to be positive, uplifting and helpful. Help is available with the tools of relaxation and stress release that I teach. Learning how to create inside your mind what I call a Peaceful Place to release stress quickly can be of enormous benefit. After going to Peaceful Place you can then take it a step further by going into meditation. With regular meditation science has shown that the brain can actually change for the better as different brainwaves are recorded during meditation and this in turn can lead us to improved health.
We all have to face times when we are confronted by problems and difficulties. Allowing ourselves to become preoccupied with the negative side of life can severely effect the quality of our life.
Author – Sandy MacGregor. Sandy had <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnWBsyrvueA”>extraordinary life experiences</a> which helped him to <a href=”http://www.worryandanxiety.com “>handle stress and worry</a>.
