Being there for your kids - Managing Stress & Encouraging Resilience in Your Family

Episode Date: April 26, 2020

Whew! We are all under the gun. This COVID-19 pandemic has each one of us scrambling to stay safe and trying to do our part. Stress management strategies are at a premium in these tentative times. As parents, we all need to model effective stress management and promote resilience with our kids. Included in this podcast are four suggestions for dealing with our current crisis. Also, remember, find the blessing in the tough times. What a great time to really meaningfully connect with your kids. How are you gonna do that?

Hi, I'm Dr. John Robinson, and this is Teachable Moments. Let's talk about stress management and resilience in your family. Having seen the COVID-19 numbers rise over the last few months and watched every step unfold on TV news, and having done our parts toward healing our nation, we are all consumed with how to lower our stress and enhance our resilience in these tough times. Kudos to first responders and health care workers who are on the front lines of battling this pandemic. kudos to the rest of us who are doing our part by donning PPEs just to go to the grocery store and by social distancing to avoid adding to the problems around us.

As parents, we want to find ways to manage our stress and to enhance our resilience, and then we want to pass along to our children and family those measures as well. The current slogan, we are all in this together, is eminently true. Hey, son, Dad popped his head in Sam's door. I'm going for a jog. Want to come? Sam was gaming on his computer as he had been since awakening this morning. Nah, I'm okay, he grunted. Dad started to leave, but then changed his mind.

Hey, come on, big guy, he urged. Your game will still be there when we get back, and you need the exercise and change of scenery. We'll be back within an hour. Sam started to protest, but knew it wouldn't do any good. He and his dad went on their jog, socially distancing from others getting their exercise. They had a bite to eat when they returned, and Dad got Sam to teach him about the game he had been

playing on his laptop. Regular workouts have known positive effects both on stress management and on building resilience. One, help your children maintain their regular schedules as much as possible. Going to bed, getting up, eating, doing school work, although it's at home, need to coincide with the times these things would usually happen if there were no crisis. Two, help your children find ways to creatively relax and have safe fun, active listen to their beefs, brainstorm, and jointly problem-solve. Alternate work time with playtime throughout the day. Three, help your children stay distantly connected to their teachers and circle of friends. Many teachers have a portal online to stay in touch with their students. Some school systems

have used buses and bus drivers to ferry assignments and worksheets and even meals to students stuck at home. Help your kids navigate FaceTiming and zooming with their friends. Be creative, like hosting a virtual sleepover for your girls. Finally, have meals together. Did you know that families nowadays only have on average three of 21 meals together during a given week? Try to increase that average and use the meal time without electronics for planning activities and creating that wish list of stuff each of you looks forward to getting back when this pandemic crisis is over. These practical matters help you and your kids manage the current stress better

and also improve their resilience. These qualities will serve them well in future issues and circumstances also. Stay safe. I'm Dr. Jonathan C. Robinson, licensed clinical psychologist, and Christian author of Teachable Moments, building blocks of Christian parenting. And this has been Teachable Moments. Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting, is available online at AmazonBooks.com and in local and national bookstores.

More on Dr. Robinson at TMC. I.NC.com.