Category Archives: Children

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Stressors and Children: Social Interactions

Children, Families, Parents, Stressors

Over the past few weeks, many children have headed back to school. In my Eagan therapy practice, one of the biggest school-related stressors that I hear about is related to social interactions. This is something children and their parents talk about year round, but especially at the beginning of the school year. Kids often worry about making friends and being liked. Parents often wonder how their child’s social skills compare to other children and worry about their children developing healthy relationships with their peers. In this post, I will explore how we can help our children identify and cope with the emotions they have about interacting with their peers and develop healthy social skills. Continue reading Stressors and Children: Social Interactions →

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Stressors & Children: Travel

Children, Families, Parents

Travel can be incredibly stressful because there are many changes to our routines and things can feel unpredictable.   Many parents find traveling with children to be stressful, but it is also important to remember that children may experience traveling to be stressful, too.   If you haven’t already done so, you may want to check out my previous post about Stressors & Children.

Reflection: Preparing to Help Children Manage Stress While Traveling

Each travel experience is unique, so I encourage you to think through your upcoming travel plans and anticipate which elements may be most stressful for your child.    As I am writing this, I am reminded of a Daniel Tiger song that my own children often sing, “When we do something new, Lets talk about what we’ll do.”  Doing this type of reflection now can help you prepare your child for what to expect while traveling and help reduce the stress that can accompany encountering new situations.  This reflection also allows you the opportunity to consider how you can help your child manage stress while away from home.    Things to consider include: Continue reading Stressors & Children: Travel →

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Stressors & Children

Children, Families, Parents, Reflection Questions, Stressors

How is your stress level right now?  How is your child’s stress level?   We all experience stress at times, including children.    Yes, it is true that children don’t have the same responsibilities as adults, but there are certainly areas of their lives that can cause them stress as well.

Sometimes, as adults, we are not as good about recognizing when the children in our life are experiencing stress.  Some of the areas of life that cause adults stress (ex: relationship difficulties) also cause children stress, but there may be things that cause stress for our children that we as adults don’t even recognize as a stressor.

Continue reading Stressors & Children →

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Self Care For Children

Children, Families, Parents, Self Care

If you’ve been following my series on self care, you already know that I believe self care is really important!   Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we can teach children about the benefits of self care from an early age and set a strong foundation that will help them prioritize self care as they get older.

Self care is defined as purposeful action that an individual takes to ensure their well-being.   Well-being can include; emotional health, mental health, physical health, and spiritual health.  When our children are young, we support our children in achieving well-being in each of these areas, but as our children get older they will become more independent and need to have the skills to ensure their own well being.

Continue reading Self Care For Children →

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Effective Coping Strategies for Children & Teens

Children, Counseling, Families, Parents

In previous posts, I have written about helping children build their feelings vocabulary and express their emotions.    Today, I address coping strategies for children and teens.   The coping strategies that we find effective as adults may not be as helpful for children or teens.

What is a coping strategy?

A coping strategy is any strategy that helps us tolerate intense emotion, stressful situations or conflict   The types of coping strategies we utilize can be healthy or unhealthy (think overeating, excess drinking and more).   It is important to help children develop a foundation of utilizing healthy coping strategies when they are young.

Coping strategies are not one size fits all.   The type of strategies that may be effective and acceptable vary based on the child’s needs, the family’s expectations, the setting, the type of emotion being experienced, the intensity of the emotion and available resources. Continue reading Effective Coping Strategies for Children & Teens →

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Thinking Outside of the Box: Creative Ways to Help Children Express Their Emotions (Part 2)

Children, Families, Parents

In my last post, I asked you to start considering ways in which children may express their emotions in ways other than directly talking about their own emotions.   I promised a follow up post sharing some specific ideas and here it is!

The dictionary defines express as:

  • to put (thought) into words; utter or state
  • to show, manifest, or reveal
  • to set forth the opinions, feelings, etc., of (oneself), as in speaking, writing, or painting
  • to represent by a symbol, character, figure, or formula

The ideas that I share in this post could be used as ways to help children express their emotions, but can also be very helpful in processing and coping with emotions.   For the purposes of this post, I consider an idea creative or “outside of the box” if it goes beyond just expecting children to verbally share their emotions with us.  If you observe your children, you may realize that they are already using some of the techniques described below to process their emotions or situations that they have encountered.   Other children may benefit from being given permission to use one of the following techniques to share their emotions.

Continue reading Thinking Outside of the Box: Creative Ways to Help Children Express Their Emotions (Part 2) →

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Thinking Outside of the Box: Creative Ways to Help Children Express Their Emotions (Part 1)

Children, Families, Parents, Reflection Questions

At times, we all experience difficulty in expressing our emotions. It can be especailly challenging for children to express their emotions through words, so I encourage parents to think outside of the box about ways in which they can support their children in expressing their emotions. Continue reading Thinking Outside of the Box: Creative Ways to Help Children Express Their Emotions (Part 1) →

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Assessing Your Child’s Emotions

Children, Families, Parents

As parents or caregivers, I believe one of our most important tasks is to help our children learn to identify, share and cope with their emotions (feelings).   In a previous post, I wrote about helping children build their feelings vocabulary.

One of the best ways to help children begin to identify, share and cope with their emotions is by supporting them in doing so in the moment, as they are experiencing an emotion.   It can be helpful for the parent or caregiver to have a hunch about what the child is feeling and what the contributing factors may be.  Our hunches may be wrong, but they give us a starting point in trying to support children in sharing and coping with their emotions.

Continue reading Assessing Your Child’s Emotions →

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Building Your Child’s Feelings Vocabulary

Children, Families, Parents

I often talk to parents about being open to having their children express their emotions (feelings) through means other than words.   Art, music and play are just a few of the powerful ways in which children communicate and share their emotions with us.  I have learned so much about how children understand the world by just playing with them.  Having said that, there are many reasons why it is valuable to help children build a feelings vocabulary  and comfort in discussing their emotions.

The Benefits of Building Your Child’s Feelings Vocabulary

  • When children are able to identify their emotions, they can more effectively ask for help when they are experiencing an overwhelming emotion.
  • Being able to speak about their own emotions helps children in their relationships with others because they are better able to communicate and engage in conflict resolution.
  • Being able to identify one’s own emotions is the first step in being able to develop empathy for others.

Continue reading Building Your Child’s Feelings Vocabulary →

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8 Ways to Show Children You Love Them Throughout the Year

Children, Families

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.   It can be fun to have a special day devoted to showing our children (and others) that we love them.   But, our daily interactions are essential in showing our children that we love them.

Below you’ll find eight ways we can show children we love them throughout the year.   Many of you may already be implementing some of these suggestions, but some of the suggestions may be ideas you want to consider implementing or revisiting in your family.

Continue reading 8 Ways to Show Children You Love Them Throughout the Year →