The future for our children is likely to be full of stress and conflict. As a result, teachers and parents have to obligation to Parents and teachers have the responsibility to model behaviors and teach life skills that will increase the likelihood that our children will be accepting, productive, healthy, and most importantly, resilient. Here are some ways to teach children to beat stress and conflict.
1. Self-understanding and acceptance
Self-esteem is a practical assessment of your worth and abilities. Individuals that have high self-esteem are productive, imaginative, responsive, and attentive to other people’s needs. Motivate your children to develop their natural interests and aptitudes. Set them up for success. It is also important for them to be empowered to become more responsible.
2. Acceptance and understanding from adults
Provide your children with focused, consistent, undivided attention. This will communicate your unconditional love more effectively than anything else.
3. Constructive thinking
We are what we think. Fill your language with statements that help your children see change positively, to view adversity as manageable, to persist until they are successful, and to become more oriented to the needs of others. Prepare your children for the reality that others may not think or believe like they do. Teach your children to recognize negative and positive feelings in other people and themselves. Another effective means of improving coping skills and increasing self-esteem is via replacing destructive thinking patterns with constructive thinking.
4. Good strategies for decision-making
An individual is able to make a good decision when can create alternate solutions to a problem, predict the potential consequences of their actions, view a problem from several perspectives, and determine how to implement alternative methods to resolve the problem. Children who are as young as 4 or 5 years old are often able to predict consequences and generate alternatives, however more advanced decision-making skills develop later. Model good decision-making for your children. Show children how characters in stories make decisions. Let your children make their own decisions whenever possible.
5. Stress-coping strategies
It’s not too early to teach children some forms of meditation, physical relaxation exercises such as breathing techniques, muscle relaxation exercisees, and imagery. Help your children learn to recognize their own stress triggers and responses, and identify which relaxation methods work best for them. And help your children to laugh– watch comedies that are age-appropriate, read funny stories, and laugh at their jokes.
6. Good nutrition and exercise
Good nutrition optimizes the way your mind and body works. A healthy body and mind that functions well increases our resiliency and self-esteem. Make aerobic exercise and recreation a family affair. If your children see you exercise, there is a greater likelihood that they will adopt these lifelong positive habits themselves.
7. A sense of purpose and commitment to personal and social goals
Commitment to goals gives meaning and value to life and a reason for existence. Children should have more than one goal, and these goals should also be practical. Children should also be taught to have a flexible approach to attaining their goals. They should also learn to be persist in situations where the progress is slow.
8. Social skills and social supports
Healthy relationships build self-esteem and protect from the negative effects of stress. Help your children to build self-awareness skills and to see situations from another’s point of view. Teach them manage disagreement and conflict in a positive manner.
Resilient children grow up to be adults who have a sense of control, a positive view of change, and they are able to discover meaning and value in their life. Now does that accurately depict the type of individuals that you want to run the world when you retire? Well these are only a few reasons why it’s beneficial to teach children to beat stress and conflict.
