Wednesday, October 30, 2019

One Simple Coping Strategy that You Can Use Anywhere

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It's important to teach coping skills to kids as a way to manage anger, anxiety, and stress. This simple coping strategy can be used anywhere and anytime by both adults and kids alike.
I'm all about filling my kids' coping skills toolbox so that they can cope with stress and anxiety and manage their anger both now and in the future.

Basically, I want to raise resilient kids.

We do a lot of deep breathing for instance. And we have things like a calm down corner and a calm down kit.

But it's also important that my kids know some coping strategies that they can do anywhere and anytime. Because let's face it - we face most of the difficult, frustrating, and overwhelming things when outside our home.

That's why I want to share one of our favorite coping strategies with you. It's such a simple coping strategy for anxiety and stress and yes, it can be used anywhere and anytime. It requires no fancy materials.

Want to teach kids coping skills? Try this simple coping strategy for anxiety, stress, and anger

Try this Coping Strategy for Stress & Anxiety

Deep breathing and counting are both excellent coping strategies, but this particular strategy combines the two. It's a simple way to reset when you start to feel overwhelmed, anxious, or even angry about something. Just pause and follow the steps below.

It's important to remember that if you or your child are already in meltdown mode, then this strategy isn't going to work. The idea is to use this coping strategy before you lose control as a way to reduce the likelihood of a meltdown or tantrum occurring (read about the difference between meltdowns and tantrums here).

So when you need to reset, just remember to breathe and count.

How to Use this Coping Strategy

This strategy is super simple and straightforward. And it's a great coping skill to teach kids to help with anger, stress, or anxiety. You can remember this technique with the numbers 3-10-1-10. Numbers are my son's thing after all...Here's how it works:

  1. Close your eyes.
  2. Take three slow deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
  3. Next, count to ten slowly.
  4. Once you reach ten, take another deep breath and pause for a few seconds.
  5. Now slowly count backwards from ten.
  6. Open your eyes.
And that's it!