April is National Stress Awareness Month so I went on the air this morning with FOX 5 San Diego to talk about how parents can identify their child’s stress response and help support their child if they are stressed.
According to the National Library of Medicine, approximately 35% of American children experience stress-related health problems. Experiencing stress in children plays a major role in increasing physical, mental, and social problems.
Is Stress Common Among Children?
Stress is a common response to pressure, tension, changes, and challenges and in small amounts can be helpful. Some degree of stress is healthy and can help us grow developmentally and achieve our personal goals. It becomes problematic when it continues to happen at elevated levels for an extended period of time. Stress is typical and unavoidable but it becomes a concern when it affects a child’s daily life and functional impairment. There might be a problem if stress is interfering with a child’s eating patterns, sleeping patterns, or social life.
Some stress is considered “bad” when children are worried about an upcoming assignment or test, a parent’s divorce, a move, or having an argument with a peer, but stress can also be considered “good” when a child is expecting a new sibling, going on vacation, a holiday, big milestones, birthdays, etc. Either way, it’s stress, and children are affected by it in mostly the same ways.
What Stress Symptoms Should Parents Look Out For in Their Children?
Parents can look for major changes in their child’s behavior and emotional state. Parents can also look for negative self talk and having a fixed mindset. Aggressive behaviors, meltdowns, separation anxiety, fears, and nightmares are also signs and symptoms of stress. Parents should be on the lookout for physiological symptoms like headaches, stomachaches, chest pains, jaw clenching, pacing, and fidgeting. Lastly, parents should question if children are avoiding and withdrawing from typically favorable activities. Awareness of abrupt mood swings, irritability, sleep disturbances, eating disturbances, and high blood pressure are also important.
What Age Should We Be Concerned About Stress Levels in Children?
Honestly every age! Stress is a human experience and affects children as young as 3 months old when can sense when their parents are angry or sad, and can feel those emotions themselves. This is according to Zero to Three, a nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., that educates parents, professionals and policymakers about the developmental needs of babies and toddlers.
Most recently, some studies are suggesting that stress in the womb can affect a baby’s temperament and neurobehavioral development. Furthermore, babies who experience stress in utero are more likely to develop chronic health problems as adults, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
In addition, according to various sources, infants whose mothers experienced high levels of stress while pregnant, particularly in the first trimester, show signs of more depression and irritability. In the womb, they also are slower to “habituate” or tune out repeated stimuli — a skill that, in infants, is an important predictor of IQ.
What Are The Causes For Stress in Kids?
Usually children get stressed because of three triggers: academic stress, social stress, and family stress. Tests, assignments, grades, friendships, fitting in, bullying, parents arguing, sibling arguments, etc all contribute to stress in children.
Does Stress Affect Children in The Same Way As Adults?
Adults and children get stressed for different reasons, but many of the symptoms are the same. Something that can be a little different among children is they may not know that what they’re experiencing is stress, or they may not have the words to express it.
How Can Parents Support Their Child’s Stress?
Find what coping skills work for your child. One of my favorite ways to help children cope with stress is using an expandable ball to practice breath work. (I demo this on the segment). Other coping skills include shoulder tapping, grounding exercises, visual imagery, listening to music, journaling, drawing, having healthy eating habits, having healthy sleep habits, consistent routines and schedules, movement, limiting screen time, fresh air, as well as playing and connecting as a family.
When is the last time you’ve had a spontaneous dance party with your children?
A big thank you to FOX 5 San Diego for having me in the studio today!
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