Providing care to young children is an intense and demanding job

• 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

• Taking Care of Ourselves booklets

• A Dozen Posters to Manage Stress

• Guided Relaxation Exercises (English/Spanish)

• Thank you for your feedback!