Our whole school Wellbeing focus for the weeks 2-5 is Mindfulness. Mindfulness relates to our ability to be calm and present at any given moment. We practice this through slowing down and concentrating on one thing at a time. This could be our breathing, completing a colouring sheet or noticing the noises we can hear around us.

Students engage in weekly explicit lessons focusing on learning the benefits of mindfulness and the activities we can implement to practise mindfulness. Teachers use resources from The Resilience Project and the Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships curriculum when planning for these lessons.

Mindfulness activities can support us to remain calm during stressful situations. I came across this article from Parenting Ideas which outlines some strategies to support your children through times of stress.

How to manage stress caused by exams and upcoming events

by Michael Grose

If your child is a seasoned worrier, you will know how difficult living on high alert can be. Constantly irritated, often anxious and occasionally withdrawn, worriers are in a never-ending state of fight, flight or even freeze.

An upcoming exam or a nerve-wracking event can trigger a flight-or-fight response, flooding the body with cortisol and adrenaline. This response, designed to power up the body to face real threats, helped keep our hunter-gatherer ancestors safe. Unfortunately, the part of the brain responsible for keeping us alert can’t tell the difference between a woolly mammoth and an upcoming exam. Both are seen as threats, so the body responds the same. Fortunately, we have an inbuilt relaxation response that can help counteract this stress. Here are some ways your child can regulate stress and anxiety rather than live in a constant state of high alert.

Practise belly breathing

Taking several deep belly breaths is probably the quickest way to engage the body’s relaxation response. Teach your child or young person to breathe in through the nose to the count of five and out through the mouth to the count of seven. Encourage them to repeat this simple exercise a number of times to switch on the relaxation response. Anchoring belly breathing to regular events such as the start of breakfast or family mealtimes can embed deep breathing into daily life. Make this a part of your child’s regular routine to develop a wonderful stress beating habit.

Lift their gaze to the horizon

Next time your child is stressed out suggest that they go out the front of where you live and look down the end of the street. Long distance viewing sends a message to the nervous system that they are safe, signalling to the relaxation response to take over. If a child or young person is stuck at a desk, they can lift their gaze to the horizontal and move their head from side to side to achieve a similar effect. It’s worth remembering that many positive wellbeing habits are physical in nature, a throw back to the times when people spent most of their time in natural environments.

Splash in some cold water

Hardy types who’ve added ocean swimming to their daily routines know just how invigorating cold water can be. Your child doesn’t have to become an iceberg to experience the stress beating benefits that cold water can bring. Plunging their face in cold water for 10 seconds, turning on the cold water at the end of the shower or holding an icepack to the right side of the neck can achieve the same effect. Their body will be flooded with feel-good endorphins taking their worries away. Cold water use has the advantage of stimulating the vagas nerve, making it easier and simpler for kids to move to relaxation mode in the long term.

Contact family or a friend

A warm chat with a friend, a fun family board game or karaoke dance party will move your child into relaxation mode, away from high alert. While extroverts will naturally connect with others, introverts and shyer types may need some parental encouragement to engage with others.

Do something they love

Ensure your child or young person does something fun and enjoyable every day. Play, hobbies, games – anything that’s not screen-based that your child or young person enjoys brings down cortisol levels.

In closing regulating stress and anxiety in the body gets stronger and more responsive with practice. Knowing how to support the parasympathetic nervous system is a wonderful strategy to place in a child’s or young person’s wellbeing toolkit.

At home you can facilitate positive conversations about mindfulness at meal times, in the car or at a time that suits you and your family. Here are some examples of questions to spark discussion:

How did you practise mindfulness today (eg. meditation, puzzles, colouring)?
What mindfulness activity are you going to do tomorrow?
What is your favourite mindfulness activity?
How do you feel after doing a mindfulness activity?

Webinar reminder:

Dr Justin Coulson presents: Helping your child with anxiety

About the webinar

Helping your child with anxiety

Anxiety has become one of the leading causes of ill-health in our children. And it’s also affecting more parents than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what was already an accelerating problem.

Can we stop anxiety? Where is it coming from? Are our kids bubble-wrapped snowflakes that just need to “toughen up” and get over it? Or is there an approach to our children’s anxiety that can build them, encourage them, and give them hope?

This webinar will provide the answers every parent needs to help their children and even to help themselves. Key learning and discussion points include:

• Recognise anxiety in your child and know how best to respond when anxiety flares up• Become a supportive hope-giver to your child to empower him/her to be courageous in the face of anxious

thoughts• Uncover the research-based #1 strength your child can develop to combat anxiety and develop remarkable

resilience• Identify how your own anxieties could be affecting your child, and know how to manage them• Learn proven strategies to help both you and your child navigate and manage anxiety when things get stressful.

Date and time

This webinar will be held on Wednesday 4 May 2022 at 8:00pm – 9:00pm AEST.

Redeem your webinar

To redeem your webinar click or copy and paste this link:

https://www.parentingideas.com.au/parent-resources/parent-webinars/webinar-helping-your-child-with-anxiety

1. Click ‘Add to cart’

Click ‘View cart’

Enter the coupon code HOPE and click ‘Apply’

Enter our organisation’s name to verify your eligibility. The $39 discount will then be applied.

Click ‘Proceed to checkout’

Fill in your account details. These are the details you will use to login to your account and access your webinar and resources.

7. Click ‘Place Order’This offer is valid until 4 August 2022. If you’re unable to make the broadcast time, just register anyway and you will get access to the recording.

Take care,

Amanda Howe

Assistant Principal - Wellbeing

Parent Involvement: Parents' Association & Dads' Club