Providing care to young children is an intense and demanding job.
Parents and teachers are under pressure to meet the demands of running a household/classroom, personal concerns, and responding to the child/children in their care.
Stress is natural and can be inevitable, but stress can take a toll on your health and effectiveness as a parent or provider.
Stress doesn’t just effect you, it also impacts the child/children in your care.
Research shows that:
Caregivers who are stressed find it more difficult to offer praise, nurturance and the structure that young children need.
Caregivers who are stressed are more likely to use harsh discipline.
Children whose caregivers are under high stress tend to have more challenging behavior
In pairs,
In pairs,
Think about a time when you were stressed and you found a way to manage your reaction and feelings.
Turn to your neighbor and finish this sentence:
“One of the best things I can do for myself when I am feeling stressed is…..”
Be prepared to share with the large group
Stress:
Stress:
Is a physical, mental or emotional response to events that causes bodily or mental tension
Comes from a situation or a thought that makes you feel frustrated, nervous, anxious or angry
Can be a good thing
Can also be harmful
Harmful Stress:
This is the kind of stress that would be helpful to limit and learn to manage in a healthy way
In pairs or small groups:
In pairs or small groups:
Turn to the first page of your
Taking Care of Ourselves booklet and
discuss the following questions:
What are my sources of stress?
How do I know when I am experiencing stress?
What are my stress reactions?
Be prepared to report back to the group
Your thoughts impact your behavior:
Stress comes from our perception of the situation
Technically, the actual situation is not stressful, our perceptions MAKE IT stressful
Sometimes we are right, sometimes we are wrong!
There are common unhelpful patterns of thinking
Focus on
Focus on
what is in your control
Recognize that thoughts impact your behavior and emotions
“Talk Back” to your unhelpful thoughts (see handout)
Focus on what is in your control versus out of your control
Keep a flexible and revolving door approach to the types of activities or strategies you choose to reduce stress
What is a coping strategy?
Process of managing stressful situations
Deliberate and planned approach
Goal: reduce, tolerate, or minimize stress
Individualized
Create a coping strategy toolbox
A real or imaginary “box” collecting coping strategies that are successful for you
Eat a well- balanced diet; drink fluids low in sugar, calories, and caffeine; have healthy snacks; and drink water!
Sleep well
Exercise: any activity that you find enjoyable
Create time each day to decompress
Talk with friends, peers, avoid gossip and hurtful conversations
Write in a journal
Pair enjoyable activities or tasks with less enjoyable activities or tasks
Reward yourself for a job well done
Using a Stress Log
Using a Stress Log
Helps identify and understand your stress experiences
Builds awareness of how you react to stress
Reveals common themes or circumstances associated with your experience of and reaction to stress
Informs your next steps in learning how to manage stress based on your strengths and challenges
Keeping a Stress Log
Keeping a Stress Log
There are a number of step for keeping and making use of a stress log
Record your stressors within a time period and rate your stress response
Review the types of stressors you experienced, your response, their frequency, and any common themes
Note Next Steps including your strengths, challenges, and plans to improve how you will manage stress in next steps and your Individualized Action Plan
Revisiting Keeping a Stress Log
Revisiting Keeping a Stress Log
There are a number of step for keeping and making use of a stress log
Record your stressors within a time period and rate your stress response
Review the types of stressors you experienced, your response, their frequency, and any common themes
Note Next Steps including your strengths, challenges, and plans to improve how you will manage stress in next steps and your Individualized Action Plan
What is a coping strategy?
Process of managing stressful situations
Deliberate and planned approach
Goal: reduce, tolerate, or minimize stress
Individualized
Create a coping strategy toolbox
A real or imaginary “box” collecting coping strategies that are successful for you
Controlled or Deep Breathing
Controlled or Deep Breathing
Simple, but effective! Can be done any time anywhere
Controlled breathing helps us to calm down
To keep thoughts calm and relaxed while breathing, introduce the words “calm” or “relax” while breathing out
Imagine your other thoughts floating away in a balloon
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Useful for relaxing the muscles when they feel tight because of emotional stress
Progressive Muscle Relaxation provides the most optimal relaxation
Chair Technique
Standing Technique
Key: tensing a group of muscles, hold in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds, relax the muscles
Controlled or Deep Breathing
Progressive Relaxation
For more practice in these techniques, as well as Visual Imagery, with recorded audio guidance go to the ECMHC website -
http://www.ecmhc.org/relaxation.html
Thought Stopping
Thought Stopping
Helps break the cognitive distortion cycle
Gets you back on track
Key: Notice your thoughts, use a trigger word to stop the thought
Replace with a more helpful thought
Example: “There is no point in trying”
STOP!
“ This situation could be easier if I first
talked with ….
Positive Self-Statements
Positive Self-Statements
Introduce repetitive positive and motivating statements into your day and in reaction to your thoughts
Examples of positive statements:
I am smart! I work hard! I always do my best.
Examples of positive thought replacements:
Instead of: “ I need to be perfect or I fail.”
Replace with: “ I did a great job learning this new curriculum!”
Active Listening
Active Listening
Builds relationships and sends a message of respect for the thoughts and experiences of others.
Involves listening to the content of the conversation as well as feelings and non-verbal cues within the message
Instead of:
Speaker: I finally finished all of my work.
Listener: Oh good, now you can help clean up.
Active Listener: You must feel relieved, that was a lot of work.
Effective Feedback
Effective Feedback
Is fact-based observation of what is going well
Describes changes in the future as “next steps” rather than criticism
Ends with praise or encouragement
Example of effective feedback as a “praise sandwich”:
Nice job speaking right at eye level with Jacey.
Next time, you might think about using a softer voice.
I really liked how you gave her a high five at the end.
Working in pairs,
Working in pairs,
Read your assigned scenario
Briefly discuss what is happening in the scenario
Make a “praise sandwich” to give effective feedback that fits the scenario
Be prepared to share your message with the large group
Individually,
Individually,
Turn to the last page of your
Taking Care of Ourselves booklet and
take a few minutes to develop your own
action plan for future stressful situations
Example:
When [my stressor] (child whines) & I begin to feel [sign of stress] (tension ), I will [technique used] (use positive self statements).”
Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation www.ecmhc.org