Stress Relief Techniques For A Preschool Child – Part Two
In the first part of this two-part article, we discussed, from my viewpoint as career educator of more than 30 years, the fact that preschools and families are increasing stress on preschool children. To clarify, we worked through a brief definition of preschool stress, and looked at the underlying reason for preschool stress.
Finally, we considered the basic requirement of preschool stress relief. We pick up at that point.
Basic Requirement of Preschool Stress Relief
Stress relief techniques for a preschool child must be fashioned in accordance with the underlying reason for stress: the child’s need for control.
Establish Boundaries
Preschool stress relief depends on the establishment of boundaries. We must establish physical boundaries to keep a child safe physically. We must also establish emotional, mental, and spiritual boundaries to give the child safety. As long as boundaries do not exist, or can be knocked down, children will experience stress in seeking them. Here are a few examples of preschool stress relief in action.
1. At reading time, the physical boundary is the reading circle, reading rug, or whatever part of the room you designate. The child is to be there and nowhere else. Doesn’t this create preschool stress? No. It is strong preschool stress relief. When children know clearly that only one location is acceptable, control is established for them. They do not need to seek control by responding inappropriately. They can relax.
Preschool stress relief requires us to teach children these boundaries and help them understand that they will be happy and safe within them. They never have to test the boundary. We help relieve stress.
2. When an adult gives a command or makes a request, the mental and emotional boundary is immediate and full compliance. Adults set the boundary once, with no counting involved. The amount of time children wait to obey is the amount of time they are outside the boundary – an unhappy place to be.
If we want to provide preschool stress relief for children, we will be sure they understand that remaining outside that boundary is inappropriate. We do not ignore their disobedience. We make obedience important. We reward it, and remove the need for decision.
3. Stress relief techniques for a preschool child also establish control for the child when it comes to expectations that children will get along with one another. This expectation is not unrealistic or burdensome. Preschool stress relief in this area takes the form of instructing and showing that good things result from efforts to get along. If we separate children who are unwilling to cooperate with one another, we add to the stress, making it difficult for them to know what to do. Our voices tell them they must get along, but separation rewards their failure to do so.
Give Responsibility
Preschool stress relief gives children responsibility for their actions. It does not blame refusal to stay within boundaries on circumstances outside the child. Life will always contain circumstances beyond their control. Preschool stress relief helps them learn early that appropriate responses to stress are based on boundaries, and their responsibility to stay within the boundaries.
Stressful Crayons
A good object lesson in preschool stress relief is to give children a coloring page and crayons. Talk to them about how unhappy the crayons will be if they go outside the lines. Tell them the lines are there to make it easier for the crayons. If they had to color a parrot (or whatever the picture) without lines to guide them, it would be much harder. It would make the crayons feel anxious. They could not be sure if they were doing it right. The lines make the crayons happy and relaxed.
As the children color, explain that they are like crayons. They need lines. They need boundaries. As long as they stay inside life’s lines, they will be much happier.
Conclusion
Preschool stress relief is not complicated. We should not make it so. Teachers and parents who focus on natural, common sense boundaries will achieve a high level of preschool stress relief without struggle.
© 2007, Anna Hart. Anna brings to her writing her professional training and expertise as an educator and published author. When she writes at http://www.stressmanagementblog.com about preschool stress relief, she does so from experience and carefully conducted research. Anna invites you to read about preschool temper tantrums on her blog site.
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Child, Part, Preschool, relief, stress, Techniques
Stress Relief Techniques For A Preschool Child – Part One
Many years ago, children from birth to four or five years of age exercised natural preschool stress relief. Training in preschool stress relief was both unknown and unnecessary. Stay at home mothers never worried about trying to increase self-concept in their preschool children. They did not work to instill artificial coping skills and specialized anger management skills in pre-schoolers. Common sense dictated preschool stress relief efforts.
In the twenty-first century, however, many who themselves mismanage stress are seeking stress relief techniques for a preschool child or children. I have been appalled, both as teacher and principal, to see the negative, detrimental changes since I began my career. While we struggle to instill greater measures of preschool stress relief, we actually increase stress on young children.
From my viewpoint as career educator of more than 30 years, I would like to address the issue briefly. What are – or should be – appropriate preschool stress relief techniques?
Defining Preschool Stress
Preschool stress is the response of a preschool child to physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual demands made upon the child. When the response is positive, the preschooler experiences eustress. When the response is negative, the child experiences distress. Both are stress: “eustress” is beneficial, happy stress; “distress” is unhealthy, miserable stress.
What Preschool Stress Is Not
1. Preschool stress is not the teacher’s demand that Sally come to the story circle and sit quietly. It is Sally’s response to that demand. Preschool stress relief must focus on the response.
2. Preschool stress is not the teacher’s demand that Bobby try again to count to 20. It is Bobby’s response to that demand. Preschool stress relief must focus on the response.
3. Preschool stress is not Mother’s demand that Sasha stop crying when left at preschool. It is Sasha’s response to that demand. Preschool stress relief must focus on the response.
Preschool Stressors versus Preschool Stress
The most prevalent error in attempts at preschool stress relief is the confusion of stressors with stress.
1. Preschool stressors, on the one hand, are always present. They are an inescapable part of life. Preschool stressors themselves should never be viewed as the cause of stress. Stressors are simply demands made upon the preschool child in one form or another: to cooperate; to learn; to share; to comply with rules; to exercise self control; etc.
2. Preschool stress, on the other hand, is the preschool child’s response to demands made upon him or her. If the child willingly accepts the demands, a feeling of eustress takes over. Endorphins are released and the child is cheerfully compliant. Preschool stress relief is not needed for eustress. If the child rejects the demands, however, distress takes charge. Distress, the fight-or-flight mechanism, releases adrenalin and the child becomes combative or fearful, and non-compliant. Distress does call for preschool stress relief.
Underlying Reason for Preschool Stress
The ultimate, underlying reason preschoolers experience “distress” rather than “eustress” is their inner response to relinquishing control or having no one in control.
Preschool children, like adults, want control in their lives. They want and need boundaries. On the one hand, they don’t want someone else controlling their lives. They want to steer their own lives. The term “terrible twos” originates in the preschooler’s desire to be independent of outside control. On the other hand, they want someone to exercise firm, loving control, and if the adult does not do so, the child will attempt it.
Basic Requirement of Preschool Stress Relief
Stress relief techniques for a preschool child must understand and build on the underlying reason for stress if they are to succeed. Preschool stress relief must focus on the child’s determination to exercise control, or have firm control exercised over, all 4 areas of his or her own life: emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual.
Weeding Out Stressors
Preschool stress relief should not concentrate on wedding out stressors. The stressor is seldom at fault. No matter how great, the stressor itself does not determine how the child responds to it.
It is an error to believe that any of the following 7 approaches (which I have witnessed often) will accomplish preschool stress relief.
1. Adults give commands, and let children comply or not, as they wish.
2. Adults let children roam the room at will.
3. Adults let children refuse obedience until the count of 5, 10, etc.
4. Adults separate children who refuse to get along together.
5. Adults ignore misbehaving children, hoping desire for attention will win.
6. Adults classify misbehavior as stress behavior, and permit it.
7. Adults teach preschool stress relief techniques that focus on relaxation, smiling, and deep breathing, but neglect the root cause.
Successful preschool stress relief has a proven formula, which we address in Part Two of this article.
© 2007, Anna Hart. Anna brings to her writing her professional training and expertise as an educator and published author. When she writes at http://www.stressmanagementblog.com about preschool stress relief, she does so from experience and carefully conducted research. Anna invites you to read about preschool temper tantrums on her blog site.
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Child, Part, Preschool, relief, stress, Techniques
Stress Relief and Stress Management Techniques
More than one million readers found great value in Timothy Gallwey’s bestselling book “The Inner Game of Tennis.” In this interview with Henry Tenenbaum for San Francisco’s “KRON-4 News Weekend,” Gallwey and co-author Dr. John Horton explain how we can silence our “inner critic” and tap into our fullest measure of creativity, whether our goal is winning a tennis match, running a successful business meeting, or being a good parent. To learn more about these stress management techniques, visit www.innergameofstress.com
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Management, relief, stress, Techniques
Gracie Diet: Fruit Picking Techniques
www.GracieAcademy.com Rener Gracie, head instructor of the world famous Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy located in Torrance, CA, teaches you how to pick the most delicious fruits for your meals.
Reviewing Stress Relief Techniques That Should Not Be Abused
Many of us would like to deal with the stress in our lives like the main character in the movie Office Space. It would be awesome to just decide not stop going to work unless you felt like it, stop paying your bills, and say and do whatever you felt like.
Unfortunately, as the main character in this movie discovered, and you will as well if you follow in his footsteps, reality will only let you get by with this for so long. However, for a short while he was completely stress-free, but his irresponsibility caught up with him and put him under much more stress than he started with. Here are a few stress relief techniques that become counter-effective if used on a regular basis.
One strategy that can be overused for stress relief is drinking. A few drinks can be relaxing, and several can be even more so. It also can also be helpful for venting and getting some things off your chest, but getting too drunk, sick, or hung over, especially on a regular basis, bring up another set of problems.
After getting sick or being too rambunctious, depending on who your friends are, you may find that you are not as popular as you once were. This can be even more problematic if you confront the cause of your stress while drinking.
While you may be right in what you say or do, slurring and stumbling generally take away from your credibility and leave you looking like a drunken idiot, which may be the case. If you use consistently use drinking as a stress relief, you may run into additional problems with your work situation and personal relationships.
Speaking your mind can also release some tension, but left unchecked it will cost you eventually, especially if you have a small stature. It would be great to tell a few of your coworkers, neighbors, and relatives exactly what you think of them, but depending on how correct you are, there is no tell how they may react.
Needless to say, you will probably feel much better, and they will feel much worse, unless they have a few strong opinions about you as well. This can make things awkward for everyone involved, and, in some cases, leave you stressing about your safety or job security.
A night on the town gambling can be fun, but doing it too often or not knowing when to stop, take your losses, and go home, can bring some serious consequences. Gambling’s attraction has to do with the hope of winning and the thrill of trying, mingled with the psychological pull of unexpected rewards.
Winning some times but never being guaranteed a win is what grips people tight, and many people have lost everything they own before even realizing that they have nothing left to gamble with.
These types of stress relief have to be used in moderation and never try to combine them all together into a loud-mouthed, drinking night at the casino. Sometimes it might feel good to let go from time to time, but once you start hitting a pattern with these forms of relieving tension, you’re going to cause yourself more problems for yourself than you started out with.
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Abused, relief, Reviewing, Should, stress, Techniques
Discussing Some Stress Relief Techniques
There’s a definite link between body and brain, and when stress starts to put on the pressure, your whole being suffers. You may be mentally struggling with something stressful, but your body is going to react to that pressure, one of the reasons why stressed individuals often feel tired and worn out. Managing stress can focus on techniques that involve either the body or the brain, and sometimes the solution doesn’t have to be all in one.
Feeling worn out and tired is a big complaint from people dealing with continual stress. The tendency is to get more sleep, but that can actually leave individuals feeling more lethargic and less energetic. Physical activity, even just walking or doing exercises at home, boosts the brain and releases plenty of hormones that help us feel better and improve our mood. By getting some exercise instead of lying around the house, you’ll end up feeling more relaxed and refreshed.
Doing aerobic exercise is a popular choice when it comes to stress relief, because they are very low impact and do not require much upper body strength. This means that nearly anyone can do aerobics, regardless of their age or fitness level. Yoga and other stretching exercises are also excellent for stress relief. Stretching pulls your muscles in ways they are not used normally, forcing them to go through their full range of motion.
Doing this gets your blood flowing without breaking a sweat. It has been shown that stretching can wake you up and improves creativity among people who do it consistently. Pushups and sit-ups are always an option as well. Regardless of what physical activity you choose to manage your stress level, the important thing is that you give yourself an outlet for extra energy and get your body active so your mind can relax.
Stress also has a strong effect on your mind. It wears you down and keeps you from truly enjoying yourself. While you must put your mind to dealing with the source of your stress at some point, mental distractions can be a great relief, and are necessary for everyone, regardless of their stress level.
Your distractions need to be something that can help you relax and get your mind off of everything that is getting you down. Many people like to read, listen to music, play chess or other games, or just enjoy the company of family or friends. Hobbies can also be a great stress relief, just be careful not to partake in a hobby that has a tendency to frustrate you, or you may be feeling even more stressed than you were before.
Balancing your techniques to help both mind and body at once is the most effective. Applying stress management techniques to only one area of your being won’t do as good a job as giving yourself mental distractions combined with exercise. Finding what works for you to keep stress levels at a manageable level is important, so try a variety of combinations until you find the one that’s right for you.
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Discussing, relief, Some, stress, Techniques
Meditation Techniques and Tips / Stress Relief / Relaxation
◎ Meditation ☆ ◎ by Braingle.com ☆ Mentalrobics (mental health exercises and activities): www.braingle.com Daily exercises and tips for improving memory, creativity, vocabulary and stress management. \\ Please remember to rate ☆☆☆☆☆ and subscribe!
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: meditation, Relaxation, relief, stress, Techniques, tips
Natural Stress Relief – Read These Techniques if You are in Stress
Natural stress relief is quite possible when you undergo some stress relief therapy, which is way of treatment carried out by a health care provider, Ayurvedic practitioners, professional consultants and/or psychologists. The treatment generally is carried out in peaceful surroundings and patient-friendly environment in health centre. The main objective of such kind of natural stress relief is to improve the self confidence of the patient suffering from various mental disorders.
Natural stress relief is a preferred method to treat mental disorder since such therapy not only decreases elevated stress levels but also teaches the person how to cope with the pressure of day-to-day life as well as eliminate unwanted bad habits that might come about as a reaction to stressful conditions.
A typical natural stress relief comprises of many different therapies and techniques those have been specially designed to alleviate the symptoms of stress. Let us learn some important therapies: Some of the more common therapies which are carried out include:
Hypnotherapy - This removes tension and stress as well as negative thinking. The patient would be in a state of natural deep relaxing and concentrating phase. Hypnosis may help you to carefully observe and learn negative patterns in the life and then to treat them positively.
Meditation – This is one of the most important natural stress relief therapies. Ayurvedic and other holistic practitioners such as Yoga Gurus strongly prefer to practice meditation. It will not only work as natural stress relief therapy but will also keep all the bodily hormones and enzymes in harmony.
Counseling - When a patient becomes overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, counseling will certainly help in boosting their self confidence and they will have more power to control their anger and peevishness.
Medications- In ancient health systems such as Ayurveda, the medications are preferred to heal the elevated ailments internally. Herbs such as brahmi, ashwagandha, shatavari, mandookparni etc have been used to treat various mental disorders including stress and anxiety. However, one has to checkout for the dosage since it depends upon the individual and the case in particular.
Alternative Medicinal Therapy – Natural stress relief is also possible using some alternative medicinal therapy such as aromatherapy, acupressure, acupuncture and various massage techniques. They all help in restoring the brain function and calm down the aggressive mood. They are also reported to correct the altered brain chemistry and its equation.
Exercises and Mood Control – Natural stress relief can be obtained by practicing some exercises such as jogging in calm environment (as in garden) and also to control the mood in tensed situation. However, here, the support of family member may require. This is something like mental consoling that is personally conducted by family member, especially the spouse.
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Natural, Read, relief, stress, Techniques, These
Stress Relief Yoga : Yoga Breathing Techniques
Manage stress with yoga; learn breathing techniques for yoga poses in this free instructional video on how to relieve stress with yoga poses and stretches. Expert: Elizabeth Cafferky Contact: www.yogayoga.com Bio: Elizabeth Cafferky is a yoga instructor at Yoga Yoga studio in Austin, Texas.
Categories: Stress Relief Tags: Breathing, relief, stress, Techniques, Yoga
