Routines, Relationships, and Holidays
Helping children cope with the excitement, anxieties and new experiences of a holiday relies on creating a sense of safety and predictability in their environment and with the people around them. The resources below focus on managing your own stress and helping children and families cope with their stress during the holidays and beyond.
We do a better job coping with the everyday stressors in our homes and classrooms when we put on our oxygen masks first. Think about your own resilience this holiday season. What do you need to do to take care of yourself so you can be more present for the children in your life? What is stressing you? What can you let go of? What will help you cope with the stress (sleep, eating, being outdoors, exercise, mindfulness, other people)?
Chances are good that even if you are practicing self-care, you have a lot of stressors at this time of year and that gives you a short fuse for child behaviors in the classroom. Here's a useful strategy for taking time to respond to challenging behavior in the classroom. Consider posting this "How to Help Me Stay Calm" on the wall and sharing with families. And this is another related to responding to those "hot button" moments! What is pushing your buttons right now? How can you step back and reframe that? What do you need from team members and how can you support one another?
Families also need guidance about supporting children through the many changes in routines and expectations over a holiday break especially one where travel or family visits may disrupt predictability for kids. How do we help children feel a sense of predictability and control in their lives at this time of year? What information do they need? What choices can they make? How do we help families understand how to help children who may be struggling?
The next resource is related to mindfulness and is not specific to the holidays, but a general reminder to slow down at this busy time of year. Here’s a guided meditation from Calm on being fully present or use this body scanner video (also good for kids) if you’d like some help. Do you need to destress? Practice with this melting meditation video (also good for kids) from GoNoodle. Part of mindfulness is an awareness of your emotions. The Mood Meter is a handy tool (available as a printable and as an app) that can help adults and children name their emotions.
The holidays can be particularly draining when we are already suffering from compassion fatigue. The authors recommend taking care of your basic needs (physical, spiritual, emotional, etc.), practicing mindfulness, reframing negative thoughts, and personal goal-setting as a way to avoid compassion fatigue. The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress also has some good resources on secondary trauma. I like their fact sheets on Taking Care of Yourself and using the Pause, Reset, Nourish (PRN) strategy.
The last article is a reminder for teachers about reconnecting with children after a break: reteaching routines, building connections, and reminders about expectations.
Dig Deeper:
Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar is worth a read (or a re-read) especially at this time of year
FUNNY Stress Management Techniques by TEDx Speaker Karyn Buxman (video)
The Happiness Lab (podcast) with Dr. Laurie Santos
OK, You've Got This! resiliency project focuses on the 7Cs of resilience - How can you build resilience in you and in the children and families you work with?
87 Human Emotions by Brené Brown
