STRESS TIPS for PARENTS

    * Prepare your child  for potentially stressful  events, such as a first visit to the dentist or the birth of a sibling. Explain what will probably happen and how they might feel.
   
    * Support them when they try to express their fear, hurt, anger in whichever way they know how. Listen to them and acknowledge that their feelings are real.
  
    * Help your child to identify a variety of coping strategies  - what to do “if” (examples – if they see an accident, if a stranger talks to them, if they are bullied).
  
    * Help  your child to recognize, name, accept, and express his/her feelings appropriately.
 
    * Teach your child relaxation techniques like "take three deep breaths"; "count backwards"; "tense and release your muscles" “imagine you are in your favourite place”.
 
    * Talk positively to your child – encourage him and her all the time, tell them you love them EVERY day.
 
    * Differentiate between the being and the behaviour – its their behaviour that makes you react so help them change their behaviour to something more beneficial to them!
 
    * Stay positive yourself because children learn what they see and hear