Since I became a mom almost 6 years ago, my world has forever changed! If you would have told me my anxiety and stress would increase, I would not have believed you! I’m not saying I’m ALWAYS anxious or stressed but I am saying I live for both my children and the worry of anything happening to them elevates my nerves.
Another thing I also worry about is how I can and will have an negative or positive impact on my kids lives…this runs through my mind almost daily. I think about how my parents raised me and how some of the positive has worn off on me, BUT…a big fat BUT….some of the negative has had a BIGGER impact on my life as well.
So with that being said I know my kids will remember me spazzing out about a shoe not being put away or rushing them because they’re brushing their teeth in s-l-o-w motion. Me acting like this is caused by mostly stress, me thinking the things I think and acting in the way I act again is stress related.
Many times I’ve wondered if I am causing the kids to act the way they act(at times)and being stressed out because of their environment….the answer to that is a big fat YES!
This book, Stress Free Kids by Lori Lite, has helped me immensely! A few key points I have truly benefited from is the breathing techniques, identifying children’s stresses, tools to tackle stress, and constructively handling anger.
I can’t talk on all of these, but I’ll point out a few things from a few of these topics.
First the breathing techniques I thought at first were ridiculous…until the one day my son(who is 5)was having a meltdown over his socks, instead of yelling at him and telling him to hurry up, I calmly grabbed him and sat him on my lap and started slowly breathing in and out…to my shock he started to do the same, and calmed down way quicker than if I would have yelled.
It’s never too late to learn, and do, these breathing techniques. I wish I would have learned them at a young age, and I will continue to incorporate them in the “calming down” moments with my children, and myself.
Another one I mentioned was identifying children’s stresses. I have always tried to do this with my son, because he was the one who seemed more on edge or anxious. The book goes into detail of signs to look for in traumatic stressed kids, and what a stressed kid looks like.
I know with these tools this book has given me, I can help my kids work on stresses in their lives…cause lets face it, we live in a stressful world, so it’s not going to get any easier…so it’s books like this that we, as stressful parents, will benefit from!
Buy It!
You can buy Stress Free Kids on Amazon for $11.81.