When we think of young children, we often imagine them as leading very carefree lives. However, it can sometimes be anything but. In fact, many children often suffer from stress and anxiety at very young ages these days. Most of this is down to increasing pressures placed on them at school as exams are now taken at even earlier ages.
Watching your children get stressed out for various reasons is no fun at all, and you will no doubt want to do something to help them out. Thankfully, there is a lot that can be done to help bring down their stress levels. Read on to find out more.
Don’t Schedule Too Many After-School Activities
Lots of mums out there will try to encourage their children to be as involved in afterschool activities as possible. Schools often have so much going on that kids can be involved with, such as sports clubs and music lessons. However, you shouldn’t go over the top with all of these activities and schedule too many into your week. It’s important that your children have a couple of nights when they can just come home, relax, and not have to worry about anything at all.
Ensure They Get Plenty Of Sleep
You also need to make sure that your children are getting at least seven hours of good quality sleep each and every night. Young children might even need more. If they don’t get enough sleep, they will wake up feeling exhausted, and this will just leave them cranky and in a mood all day. It can even increase their stress levels.
Consider Getting A Pet
If you don’t already have a dog or a cat, you might want to think about getting one. That’s because pets are great stress relievers. In fact, they are so effective at reducing stress and anxiety in people that they are now being used as emotional support animals. You can read more about that online. But, even if your kids aren’t so stressed that they need an emotional support animal, it’s still worth considering a pet as they can really help to reduce the effects of the day to day little stresses that life can bring.
If a member of your family is allergic to fur or if the household is not fit for a pet, consider getting a doll for your kids. Realistic dolls such as the Kiss Reborn baby is so realistic, your child would care for it like their own. Apart from managing their stress and anxiety, dolls also help improve their social and communication skills.
Make Sure Mornings Are Calm
You want to try and make sure that each day gets off to as good a start as possible. Unfortunately, though, most families find that their morning routines are very rushed and lead to everyone going off to school or work already stressed. So, it’s important that you try to solve this. First of all, try waking up half an hour earlier. That way, you can have time for breakfast without rushing against the clock. Also, it’s a good idea to pack everyone’s school bags the evening before so that you have one less job to do in the mornings.
Stressed children might end up making you and your partner stressed out, so it’s important to nip this issue in the bud before it ends up stressing out the whole family!