Resource Topic: Stress

Parenting in the Time of COVID-19

Can’t go to work? Schools closed? Worried about money? It is normal to feel stressed and overwhelmed.

To help parents interact constructively with their children during this time of confinement, the World Health Organization published six one-page tips for parents and caregivers on planning one-on-one time, staying positive, creating a daily routine, avoiding bad behavior, managing stress, and talking about COVID-19. These tip sheets are available in 13 languages!

Use them to your and your kids’ advantage, and have fun! Laughing, having fun and building positive memories can help the whole family reduce stress.

 

Talking to Kids About Stressful Situations

One of the best things about the internet?  Resources at our fingertips.

One of the worst things about the internet?  Resources at our fingertips.

With so much information out there, how are we expected to really know what’s going to help our kids?  It helps to look for the common themes. For example, are you wondering how to talk to your kids about stressful situations, such as COVID-19?

Common themes most experts are recommending:

  1. Remain calm and reassuring: If you remain calm when they are not, they will eventually feel and mirror your calm.
  2. Make yourself available to talk: Disconnect from whatever task needs to be done and focus all of your attention on your child. Respond with love and assure them you are here for them no matter what. You might say, for example, “You are scared right now, and that is OK. We will get through this together.”
  3. Avoid blaming: Most of the time stressful situations are complicated. Blaming one person or group actually causes more anxiety for children. Instead, help your family focus on what they can control, like hand washing!
  4. Limit access to social media and TV: It’s OK to turn off the news for a little while. Constant focus on the crisis at hand increases everyone’s anxiety. Focus on making positive memories with your child while you take a break from social media and the news. Eventually, a conversation starter might be “what did you do during the COVID-19 crisis?”  Provide them with some cool memories to talk about in the future!
  5. Maintain a normal routine to the extent possible: Keep a regular schedule. Structure promotes a feeling of safety.
  6. Be honest and accurate: If kids don’t have the facts, they will often use their imagination to fill in the blanks. Avoid this by answering your child’s questions honestly. Remember, it’s OK not to have all the answers. Just reassure them that you love them and you will get through this together.

Helpful links:

 What to say when the news is scary:

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/24/716704917/when-the-news-is-scary-what-to-say-to-kids

Raising Kids Who Thrive:

 https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive

ACEs Connections: Ohio ACEs Initiatives and Actions

As knowledge about the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) spreads, ACEs initiatives have launched in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Hundreds of cross-sector collaboratives are educating and engaging organizations and policymakers about ACEs science. In turn, these organizations are implementing trauma–informed and resilience-building practices and policies based on ACEs science; many legislatures are passing resolutions and/or bills.

Joining Forces for Children, part of the Building Community Resilience initiative, spans counties in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. More than 50 organizations and 200 members from school systems, social service agencies, medical providers, parenting support organizations, early childhood professionals, Home and visitation services participate in the collaborative, led by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Student Trauma Is Widespread. Schools Don’t Have to Go It Alone.

Community partnerships can help schools support students facing adversity. For example, in Cincinnati, efforts to bring trauma-informed practices to public schools began with principals who realized that many students bring the effects of childhood trauma into the classroom, which interfered with learning. Social-emotional learning techniques alone fell short in addressing students’ needs. In 2015, the school district partnered with a community initiative called Joining Forces for Children to tackle ACEs and give students access to a broad network of trauma-informed social and family services.

Sesame Street in Communities: Resilience

Sesame Street in Communities is here to support parents and caregivers as the foundations for children’s healthy development. Thoroughly researched and tested with families, these resources are proven to make a measurable difference for kids, and make your job as a parent a little bit easier.

Here you’ll find tons of multi-media tools in both English and Spanish designed for children from birth to six, a period when brains are developing rapidly and your nurturing interaction makes a lasting difference. The videos, activities, printables, and digital interactives feature our friendly, furry Muppets and help you playfully, meaningfully engage with kids during everyday moments. The site covers a wide range of topics, from school readiness to building healthy habits to tough issues such as divorce and hunger.

Deer Park school sets up “safe haven” for students dealing with stress

Local Story featuring Deer Park Junior-Senior High School –
As more schools deal with bullying and violence, a local school comes up with a way to stop things from escalating before they start. Everything from the lighting to the sounds in a room at Deer Park Junior-Senior High School are calming. It’s called the “Recharge Room”.

Study: Many Ohio kids experience early childhood trauma

Economic hardship, neighborhood violence, split-up parents and substance abuse. Any one of those conditions can make for problems that follow a kid through childhood and beyond.
A new report based on data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health found that Ohio is among five states with the highest share of children — as many as one in seven — who had faced three or more of the potential trauma measures known to researchers as adverse childhood experiences