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Keep Routines During Stressful Times

Tags

Study Skills & Tools Social-Emotional Learning ^Extra-curricular/At-Home All Ages Strategy

Skills

Anxiety Flexible Thinking Self-regulation Social Awareness

Keep Routines During Stressful Times

If your child is experiencing a particularly stressful period of time

How To Apply It!

  1. Keeping routines can provide comfort and security when outside events feel scary, uncomfortable and very unpredictable.
  2. During stressful times, children find comfort in structure and certainty.
  3. Create a daily pattern of events that your family can follow. In school, teachers can keep a predictable class structure so students know what to expect throughout the class.
  4. Routines might include a regular wake-up time, followed by specific expectations about getting dressed and having breakfast. They also should include an expected time and person for after school pick-up, as well as homework, dinner, and bedtime routines.
  5. Try to include special "alone time" with your sensitive child as part of your daily routine. Teachers can do regular check-ins for students who are generally anxious or going through a stressful time. Those check-ins can be brief but provide the security of knowing that someone cares and is there if you need them.
  6. You can be flexible with the routine as long as you are giving your child the needed predictability.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

As adults, we sometimes do not realize the impact that life events can have on children, such as loss of a pet or distant relative, end of the school year, or the ending of a good friendship. Children perceive stress very differently from adults, so it is important to remember it is what the child perceives as stressful not the adult. When children feel stressed they will have difficulty learning. If your child is upset or stressed for whatever reason, try to meet your child's needs for comfort and security. However, to address the underlying reasons for your child's stress, be sure to engage in an approach of active listening so you are responding to your child's source of stress, not your own perception.