Parenting Stress
Parenting stress affects everyone around the house, it damages relationships and shakes emotional and psychological well being. Seeking social support of any kind is a great step forward, as even talking with a friend, or a partner about your troubles, can protect from the effects of toxic stress. This said, it is hard for those people to show constructive, non judgmental support at times. Hence, here are 5 suggestions based on the latest research, to help parents to cope with stress.
1. Avoids unnecessary exposure to negative thoughts and negative media
After being exposed to negative emotional content, people are more likely to pay attention to images, words, feedback that may be upsetting, threatening, or negative (Cartwright-Hatton et al, 2014). This lead individuals to fall into a loop of negative thinking. These days, social media has unfortunately been the main trigger for many, as things all around the world have been disturbing. Turning off the TV or switching channels when news is on, not looking at our phones, disconnecting from the bad news in the world is a good move forward.
2. Become a junkie of “good news”
This is simply the opposite of the above. The same way negative messages can trigger stress responses, positive ones can induce good mood. Seek positive, pleasant social interactions, playing with your child leads to creating happy moments, allows you to show physical affection, a mere simple cuddle nudges the brain chemistry away from stress and towards a state of calm and emotional and psychological well being (Norman et al, 2014). Witnessing positive social messages even those we see performed by strangers in a photo, can deactivate stress response. Wu and colleagues (2020) even went further to show that we tend to feel less threatened when we get to reflect on positive behaviours of others.
3. Allow for more time to get things done
While time pressure is something that affects everyone, its impact on parents is particularly detrimental.
Children tend to do things relatively slowly, and compared to adults, they tend to take longer to react, check their impulses, and also to learn (Lee et al, 2015). Furthermore, adults tend to underestimate how long it may take to do things. Hence, adjusting your expectations, giving yourself more time and not always thinking that your child is taking longer than he should on purpose, would benefit your well being.
4. Find time to exercise
This may be tricky, as it’s not just about forcing yourself to exercise, what matters more is how much you are enjoying that. When exercise is forced, it can increase stress level (Li et al, 2015). Gather the family and go for a fun bush walk, connect with nature, or go for a bike ride.
5. Help your child cope with their own stresses
Kids are not born with an inner ability to self regulate. Emotional self-regulation is something that they develop with time, and our behaviours, responses and reactions, affects how they process events.
For specific guidance on how to help kids (preschool to teens) cope with stress, especially during those not so normal times, check the below link:
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