Children are highly perceptive and can pick up on their parents’ emotions, so maintaining a calm and positive demeanor can significantly impact their own adjustment to school. 

Here are ten effective tips to manage anxiety during the first week of school:

1.  Acknowledge and Address 

Your Own Feelings

Recognize your own anxiety and take steps to address it before it affects your child. It’s normal to feel nervous about the new school year, but acknowledging these feelings can help you manage them more effectively. Practice self-care techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or journaling to cope with your emotions.

*Tip*: Consider talking to a friend, therapist, or support group to share your concerns and gain perspective. This can help you feel more grounded and less likely to project your anxiety onto your child.

2. Create a Positive Narrative

Frame the start of the school year in a positive light when talking to your child. Emphasize the exciting aspects of school, such as meeting new friends, engaging in fun activities, and learning new things. Your enthusiasm can help set a positive tone and alleviate some of your child’s fears.

*Tip*: Use encouraging language and focus on the opportunities that school presents. For example, say, “I’m excited to hear about your new teacher and what fun things you’ll do this year!”

3. Establish a Consistent Routine

A consistent routine can provide a sense of stability and predictability for both you and your child. Establish a daily schedule that includes regular wake-up times, meal times, and bedtimes. Routines help reduce anxiety by creating a sense of normalcy.

*Tip*: Involve your child in creating the routine, so they feel more in control and prepared. Display the schedule in a visible place, like the refrigerator, to reinforce consistency.

4.Prepare Together

Preparation can help ease anxiety for both parents and children. Spend time together organizing school supplies, setting up a homework station, and discussing what to expect on the first day. This collaborative approach helps both you and your child feel more prepared and less anxious.

*Tip*: Create a checklist of items to prepare and go through it together. Include things like packing lunch, laying out clothes, and gathering school supplies.

5. Practice Calm Transitions

Transitions can be challenging, especially if you’re feeling anxious. Practice calm and reassuring goodbyes to help your child feel more secure. Avoid lingering or showing signs of worry as this can make the departure more difficult for both of you.  

Wanting to go with your child to the class and hang around because they are upset can potentially do more harm than good by unintentionally communicating to your child that it is unsafe to be there and that you have to stay. Be guided by the staff and teachers at your child’s school as to which approach is best.

*Tip*: Establish a quick and positive goodbye routine, such as a special hug or a cheerful phrase. Keep your farewell brief and confident to make the transition smoother.

6. Focus on Self-Care

Taking care of yourself is crucial in managing anxiety. Make time for activities that help you relax and recharge, such as exercise, hobbies, or spending time with friends. When you’re feeling balanced, you’re better equipped to support your child.

*Tip*: Schedule regular self-care activities into your week. Even small acts of self-care, like taking a short walk or reading a book, can make a big difference in managing stress.

7.  Communicate Openly

Open communication with your child is key to understanding their feelings and addressing any concerns. Encourage them to express their emotions and listen actively without judgment. Validate their feelings and offer reassurance.

*Tip*: Use open-ended questions like, “How are you feeling about starting school?” and provide a supportive environment for your child to share their thoughts.

8. Stay Positive and Resilient

Modeling positive behavior and resilience can help your child feel more confident and less anxious. Demonstrate a positive attitude towards challenges and setbacks, and show them how to handle difficulties with a constructive mindset.

*Tip*: Share stories of times when you overcame challenges and emphasize the positive outcomes. This can help your child see that difficulties are a normal part of life and can be managed effectively.

9. Seek Support if Needed

If your anxiety feels overwhelming or persists, don’t hesitate to seek support from professionals. Consulting a therapist or counselor can provide valuable strategies for managing anxiety and help you cope more effectively.

*Tip*: Look for local support groups or online communities where you can connect with other parents. Sharing experiences and receiving support from others in similar situations can be reassuring and helpful.

Managing your own anxiety during the first week of school is essential for creating a positive experience for your child. By acknowledging your feelings, preparing ahead, and maintaining a positive and calm demeanor, you can help your child navigate the transition with confidence and ease. 

Remember, a balanced approach to self-care, open communication, and flexibility will not only benefit your well-being but also support your child’s successful adjustment to the new school year.

The post 10 Tips to Manage Anxiety as a Parent  appeared first on The Source Family Magazine.

Growing up is hard at the best of times and the last few years have made it even more challenging for young people. Mental health is just as important as physical health and one of a parent’s key roles is to support their child’s mental wellbeing. Here psychotherapist Noel McDermott offers the following top 10 tips on helping kids open up and improve communication. 

1.

Listen to their opinions

By asking your children questions you will teach them that their thoughts and voices are valued and that their opinion matters, meaning they are more likely to come to you if something is bothering them.  

2.

Identify emotions

Children have a heap of emotions floating around their heads which are often hard to process, and this can make them emotional without knowing why, such as hunger, anger, sadness, jealousy, and tiredness. As a parent you can make this easier by helping them identify how they are feeling and why this might be, this in turn will help them organise their thoughts and normalise them. 

3.

Validate feelings

Normalise your child’s emotions, all emotions are okay to have and the more we talk about them the more it validates this. It’s okay to feel sad and down, explain to your child that we all have moments when we feel we want to cry and that grown-ups cry too! 

4. 

Empathy in Parenting

Showing empathy involves understanding what your child is going through and quite simply, life is easier for children if they are shown the kindness and compassion they deserve. Children who grow up with kind and loving parents will truly develop empathy themselves. So, make the time to check in with your child, open up the conversation and give them the chance to connect with you, this way if something is troubling them, they are more likely to talk to you.  

5.

Family circle time 

Form habits around setting aside time each week for the family to share feelings in a non-judgemental space. It’s often called ‘circle time’ and it doesn’t have to be a big stress. For example, once a week after a family meal spend 5 minutes going around the table giving each person some uninterrupted time to check in with their feelings and share them with each other.

6.

Open up real life 

serious conversations 

Look for opportunities to stimulate conversation based upon what is happening in the world around you as the UK and the world is going though significant challenges which could be weighing on your child’s mind such as the cost-of-living crisis, the Ukraine war, energy problems, travel woes, political turmoil. 

All these real-world issues provide great opportunities to put into practice psychological skills, they provoke stress responses and the better we are at recognising and managing stress the better our lives will be globally. 

7.

Healthy is happy and happy is healthy

Plan activities with your kids of course but also use it as an opportunity to show them how being psychologically healthy is the same as having fun! Wellbeing psychologically is no more complex than doing stuff we enjoy such as having a run around the park, helping your kids understand this simple fact is a great gift. 

8.

DOSE up your life

Close on the heels of fun is healthy, is understanding how we can give ourselves positive hormonal boosts d-opamine (rewards prosocial activities improves motivation) o-xytocin makes you feel loved up after a cuddle, s-erotonin improves mood after getting some sun or having a walk in the park, endorphins make you feel great after strenuous activities such as a game of footie. Kids love getting this sort of knowledge and maybe if they are younger, you can do a hormone treasure map for example showing how and where in home and the local area they can get their fix of each hormone.

9.

PHSE learning at home 

What is PSHE covering at school, and can you take up some of the themes at home? The school your child attends have duties to their emotional health and wellbeing and the best way for any of us to learn is by repetition. So, look at what is being covered there regarding psychological health and wellbeing and continue the conversation at home to enrich the message.  

10. 

Learn mindfulness

Mindfulness teaches kids emotional resilience and helps them find the strength to deal with their emotions and manage them. Being mindful means greater wellbeing, more positive emotion, and less anxiety and negative emotion. Teach your children simple breathing techniques, work with them to understand the simple power of taking long, slow, and deep breaths, a valuable self-management tool for life.

Noel comments: “It’s important we don’t try and do the emotional and psychological work for our kids but encourage them to develop the internal resources they need for life to manage psychological distress effectively and healthily. 

Teaching a core set of psychological skills will equip your kids better than if you solve their problems for them: active listening, emotional intelligence, validation and strong self-esteem, empathy with others, seeing the bigger picture by being mindful in life are a great set of skills to develop.”

The key to all health and wellbeing is learning about it then doing it in real life, like if you go to the gym, learn how to use the equipment then use it regularly! It’s the same with psychological fitness ‘equipment’, learn how to use the skills then drop them into family’s life and use them every day. 

Noel McDermott is a Psychotherapist with over 25 years’ experience in health, social care, and education. He has created unique, mental health services in the independent sector. Noel’s company offer at-home mental health care and will source, identify and co-ordinate personalised care teams for the individual.

The post 10 Conversations to Build Strong Mental Health in Your Children appeared first on The Source Family Magazine.

There are, however, some very obvious signs that the impact of the COVID-19 will linger long past the return of our pupils to school. With the risk of a case hanging over all of us still, the social distancing, sanitation of facilities and the wearing of masks in all situations will continue for some time yet, but looking deeper there are other, arguably more pressing issues we need to address as a community. 

Our children have lived through a year in which their way of life has been disrupted like never before. The classroom was replaced by the computer screen, the playground by the dining room table and the opportunity for exercise and activity became limited to the garden or backyard and as much as we have all tried to keep our children active, the restrictions on them have meant that activity levels across the city have dropped in a way that will need a focused period of attention to help them recover.

What do we mean when we talk about physical activity?

Sport England classifies “Sport and Physical Activity” as any activity that can provide a young person with the opportunity to exercise at moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes at a time.

It doesn’t always mean organised sport, but includes recreational activity such as walking, scooting, playing in a playground or just being outside and active. Anything we can provide as parents, teachers and carers that gets children moving and working cardiovascularly has a positive health benefit.

Why is this important?

Alongside the obvious physical health benefits of regular, moderate to intense physical activity there are a wide and varied range of important mental, social, emotional and developmental benefits to good health. Even in the short time we have been back in college we have noticed a significant regression in pupils fine and gross motor skills.

Fine motor skills are the ability to use the small muscles in our hands and wrists and are important for everyday actions such as writing, manipulating objects and undertaking daily tasks such as brushing our teeth. The ability to make small and precise movements is a key skill that is developed in early childhood and improved throughout the growth period. Much work in schools depends on childrens development of these fine motor skills

Gross motor skills are movements made by the large muscle groups in the arms, legs and torso and are key to our ability to function as humans in an active and physical way. Walking, jumping, sitting and standing are all examples of gross motor skills that we develop as children and rely heavily on muscular strength and stamina to perform.

The impact on the development of these motor skills often manifests itself in changes in behaviour as well as reduction in physical abilities. We are seeing children struggle to write with a pen or pencil without getting fatigue in their wrists. We are seeing children with less energy struggling to carry their school bags or stand up for periods of time. These are all clear impacts of the regression of motor skills, mainly through lack of opportunity to practice them. Combined with the reduction in opportunity to exercise this will have had an impact on pupils and children that although not necessarily immediately obvious, can be seen when you observe the children over a longer period of time.

So what can schools do about this?

Schools across the world are key developers of fine and gross motor skills. Often tasks that have no direct, explicit link to physical development will in fact be having a positive maturational effect on a child’s motor skills. Painting in art, holding a recorder in music or catching a ball in PE are all, indirectly, developing a child’s fine motor skills, coordination and hand to eye control. Likewise moving from classroom to classroom, or movement around a classroom, changing seats to work with others, will all have a positive impact on the formation of gross motor skills. At Brighton College the PE department are specifically looking and observing the progress or regression of pupils fine and gross motor skills and working with the SEN department to address any specific issues in individual children. Schools across the world will be looking for these same indicators and working to address them as we move children back to age appropriate levels of development.

What can I do to help my child

The biggest single things we can all do as parents is support the opportunity for physical activity. As suggested by Sport England, this does not have to be structured sporting activity. Giving children the opportunity to play will all have significant benefits. Climbing on play equipment helps establish control over hands, feed and arms, in turn growing physical strength that will aid the performance of fine motor skills. Letting children run, jump, scoot, cycle and swim will all have positive implications for their physical development, giving them the foundation of strength required to perform everyday tasks without getting tired quickly.

What else will being active help with?

Alongside physical development and recover of fitness levels, helping our children be active again will have far reaching positive benefits to other aspects of their lives. Children, just like adults, are social beings and as such need to interact with others in order to develop the social and communicative skills required to be successful in adult life. Children need friends to talk to, play with and interactive with. Whilst this happens naturally in school settings, it is in a much more structured environment and often the opportunity to engage socially outside of school has more positive benefits. We have observed that the social skills in children at Brighton has been limited as a result of such a long time away from each other. This will recover as children have an amazing ability to engage with each other, however any opportunity we can give our children to interact with others, will have a positive impact.

Our children have been confined in a way that is totally alien to them. Even the most committed of parents have struggled to keep providing the opportunities their children need to be active, positive and happy at all times. This in turn has led to a reduction in our children’s opportunity to be confident. Confidence is a vital human trait that is hard to develop and very easy to damage. It comes from being challenged and achieving success and as such we must provide our children with the opportunity to try things, sometimes fail, sometimes be successful and grow in their emotional and social confidence. The more we can provide opportunities for children to have new experiences and to continue to master the skills and activities they practice, the quicker their confidence will return. Confidence is vitally important as it will empower children to take risks, to try new things and deal with challenges. Challenges that inevitably we are going to face in the coming months as life returns to normal.

What can I do if I want to know more?

Your child’s school is the obvious starting point. They should be monitoring and observing the impact of the past 12 months on individual children in their care. At Brighton College we have identified a key set of indicators that can tell us whether a child has been impacted negatively by their distance learning and have developed a set of interventions that can help to return each pupil to their natural developmental path. Much of this is about the individual child and there is certainly no “one size fits all” approach to it. If you have identified any strange or concerning changes in your child’s physical, emotional or social development then speak to their teachers, or the PE and SEN department at their school and work with them to formulate a home/school plan to help address it. What is most important to remember is that every child has an amazing capacity to cope with change and find positives in things. With our support all the children of Al Ain will recover from any impact of the last 12 months and soon be back to their active, social, successful selves.

Phil Mathe – Director of Sport at Brighton College in the UAE.

Phil has worked in schools across three continents. A passionate advocate of physical literacy and pupil wellbeing Phil has written extensively on the subject of physical education as a driver for personal growth, self-confidence and wellbeing in schools. He is also interested in research based education and reflective development.

The post Important ways to help your child through physical challenges brought on by the pandemic appeared first on The Source Family Magazine.

The 13-minute film will be displayed on one of the largest cinema screens across the country. Upon arrival to SZDLC, visitors will have opportunity to see a creative artwork that represents the Emirati environment, its transformation from a desert into a great haven and celebrates the capital’s rich biological diversity. The film will be filled with the best sound effects and fine visual details, which take the viewer’s gaze. 

Muneera Jasem Al Housani, Director Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Center in Al Ain Zoo, said: “Situated in the heart of Al Ain Zoo, the Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre is an important educational facility since its establishment in 2016 that combines knowledge and learning through interactive exhibits, multimedia and visual materials. SZDLC organizes various activities and programs that attract different segments of society regardless of their interests and specializations.” 

She added: “Visitors will be able to watch the film throughout the day as per the schedule in the Centre. SZDLC has achieved the five pearl rating of the Estidama Pearl Rating System (PRS) in the design phase and received a LEED Platinum certification. The Centre accommodates 258 persons with four places designed specially for people of determination and a screen with 4K technology. As part of the Centre’s efforts and preventive measures against the pandemic, and to ensure the health and safety of all visitors, the maximum number of visitors allowed to access the threatre will be 53.” 

Visitors at SZDLC will be able to view all film scenes live on ground through five interactive galleries, which are designed by world-class experts to be among one of most significant tourist destinations that attracts visitors of all ages and ensures providing them a true picture of the United Arab Emirates natural, cultural and historical environment. 

 It is worth mentioning that Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre includes two other theaters in addition to the main theater. The Sustainability Theater, which introduces the visitor to the importance of preserving the environment and reaffirms Sheikh Zayed’s vision and his confident outlook towards the future. The second theater is the Desert Dynamic Theater that takes the visitor on a journey into the nature of the Emirates with its distinct details and sheds the light on Abu Dhabi’s rich biodiversity that has a wide variety of plants and animals.

The post Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre welcomes visitors with a film appeared first on The Source Family Magazine.

However, do you suppose your youngsters are spending enough time playing? Are they free to jump, crawl, swing, paint, explore and build regular enough? Are they simply being left alone to be bored? Left with their own thoughts? Or is screen-time their “go to” mindset?

We may assume that the 3rd millennial child should somehow be prepared to be more advanced. That loaded curricula and proposed educational screen-time are important in preparing our youngest work force and leaders for tomorrow.

Many philosophers in the past would not agree though, and modern day educators are warning against overload and lost of a sense of self and the natural world.

The suggestion that during simple play, the very essence of the learning process is taking place, appeals greatly to those who want their children to be independent thinkers, yet able to meet the basic social expectations of the day. 

And while we cannot necessarily change the world to suit our views, we can certainly create a space at home where our children can play and just be children. A space to reflect your family values and foster identity.

Here are 7 uncomplicated yet important reasons why your children could benefit from a playroom at home:

1) As the parent, you have the opportunity to create a unique and wonderful space especially for your child(ren). No rules nor external regulations. This could be the very space in which your children discover parts of themselves that could be obstructed by the schedules outside the home environment. 

2) Siblings learn to share within a certain space. This can be a really tough one. Children of certain ages tend to be more possessive and giving them their way each and every time could lead to even more extensive difficulties in this individuals’ life. In a stimulating yet simplified play environment,  siblings and visiting friends alike are provided with the opportunity to experience and learn how to handle conflict.

3) From a practical point of view, a  playroom at home may assist in having a tidier house while children still have a space where they can have it their way. It can become their little mess and there little world. This way children learn that certain activities take place in certain spaces and therefore they are more aware of other people and respect can be cultivated.

4) By facilitating the process, this is a great space in which children can learn how to organize belongings. This process will imply sorting, classification, keeping, finding, prioritising and recreating toys, materials and even the room itself. Ultimately some of the fundamentals of everyday math are being researched and practically used by young children. 

5) By having a separate playroom, the opportunity arise to keep bedrooms for its primary purpose, to rest and sleep in. I do not suggest that toys and play should be banned from this space completely. However I do support the neurological studies suggesting that the brain will create a certain pattern according to repetitive behaviour. When keeping play free, but mostly separated from the sleeping area, a child’s brain will quickly recognize that it is either time to play or time to rest. These are two very important life-skills too often overlooked and not be taken seriously.

6) Play is serious business to children…

This is the time when they find out more about themselves and others than you may think. This is the time when they try and test their own little theories. This is the time when they fail and succeed and learn to handle these feelings alone or amongst others. This is when children practice verbal and non-verbal communication. When they express their thoughts and opinions. It presents opportunity to negotiate roles and practice role-play. This is the time when boredom could turn into inventive behaviour. This is the way they do serious RESEARCH.

7) This is a good solution to social- and screen detox. It is no secret that we all struggle to keep ourselves and our children connected in a more natural and social way. Intentional playrooms will provide children with many elements they will need to get creative, inventive and inspired. The more time they happily spend there, the more they will want to and even expand their exploration beyond the borders of this room. Screen-time will become secondary pleasure and your children are free from social media pitfalls like cyberbullying and a platform for developing bad self-esteem for instance. This could open up a whole new world to you and your children. 

Do you feel the excitement of possibility? Intentional playrooms can indeed be a wonderful advantage in your home. 

Happy playroom creation to all! 

Follow Lania @content_kids

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