Stress affects everyone!  Our bodies and minds both respond when we get excited, fearful, challenged or anxious.  Our brain tells our bodies to get ready to deal with these feelings and gets our body ready to “flee from danger” or to stand up and “fight it”.  This helps us deal with things that threaten us.  Special hormones are released in our body that prepares us to be alert and respond with lots of energy.  This is a good thing once in awhile, but not when adults and children are constantly dealing with stress.  These raised levels of hormones can make us feel very tired, create sore muscles and make it hard to fight off illness.  One group of researchers found that parents with more worries also had children who were sick more often.

Some signs of stress in children:

Behaviours	Body	Mind	Feelings
Whining Crying Nail Biting Fighting Low appetite or eating more Day dreaming	Headaches Stomach-aches Fast heartbeat Being cold Poor sleeping Tired Illness	Forgetful Easily distracted Confused Can’t concentrate Unreasonable Can’t problem solve	Fear Anxiety Sad or Angry Panic Overly sensitive Helpless Frustrated

 

What can we do?

Eat healthy food, get lots of exercise, get enough sleep, learn to reduce or manage stress, spend time with your children, laugh a lot, ask your children if they are worried about anything and really listen to them, minimize competitive activities, provide regular routines, make a stress management list (like deep breathing) and post it where all family members can use it.  

Mary Ann Avey, Parent Educator