5 Must Try Calming Exercises For Kids
As adults, we typically know our anxieties are either irrational or valid, but children tend to lack this level of self awareness. Children notice the physical symptoms that come along with anxiety – sleeplessness, upset stomach and, and a rapid heart rate– and they don’t necessarily make the connection that a certain person, place, or thing is causing them to have those feelings. Often parents can unknowingly make a child’s anxiety worse when trying to protect them from their feelings.
Figuring out how to help kids with anxiety can be tricky. Our natural instinct is to say things like…
Stop worrying over nothing!
Don’t worry!
It’s all in your head!
There’s nothing to be scared of!
This shouldn’t upset you so much!
CALM DOWN!
The good news - There are lots of exercises your child can do can do to help lessen their feelings of anxiety.
Here are 5 must try exercises to help you get started!
Use Empathy when talking to your kids about their worries
It is important to have empathy when talking to your kids about their worries without minimizing their fears. Don’t be afraid to talk to your child about what worry is and how it affects their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Worries can be magnified when children cannot understand what they are, why they’re happening, and their effects. Help them understand the signs and symptoms of worry.
1. Grounding Exercises
For in-the-moment worry management, here are my 3 go-to grounding methods:
Name 5 things you see, 4 things you hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
Name 5 colors you see, 4 sounds you hear, 3 shapes you see, 2 things you can hold in your hand, and say 1 thing you can do right now.
Stand or sit firmly in place. Feel the weight of your feet on the ground. Wiggle your toes and notice how they feel as they tickle the ground. Raise and lower your heels. Notice how your heels press into the ground as you come back down. Say, “I am firmly planted in [this place].”
2. Focus on Control
Help your kiddo to understand what they can and cannot control and then focus on the things they can actively do to help themselves.
A great exercise for this is to use a rock and play dough. The rock represents things we cannot control. The play dough represents things we can control. What happens when we squeeze a rock? Nothing. We can’t change the rock. What happens when we squeeze play dough? We can shape it, mold it, and change it. The same is true for worries. When we worry about things outside of our control, we do not change them. When we instead focus on things we can control, we can make positive changes to help ourselves feel better.
3. Practice Mindfulness
Much like the grounding exercises, practicing mindfulness will help your child focus on the present moment and pull themselves out of the worry spiral.
Mindful coloring using a mandala coloring book or a body scan exercise are examples of mindfulness activities that will help your child gain clarity on the what’s going on in and around them right now.
4. Breathing Exercises
Another tool to use in the moment is controlled breathing. Children can utilize breathing exercises to calm their rapid breathing when worries seem overpowering. Here are 3 breathing exercises to try.
Bee breathing: Breathe in deeply through your nose counting to 4. Hold the breath for a count of 4 and then blow it out while buzzing like a bee.
Animal friend breathing: This can be done with any kind of stuffed animal. Have your child lie on their backs on the floor and place a stuffed animal on their bellies. Inhale for a count of 4, watching the animal rise up as their lungs are filled with air. Hold the breath for a count of 4 and then slowly release for a count of 7, watching the animal slowly fall back down. This method helps kiddos to really visualize the rise and fall of their breaths.
Lazy 8 breathing: For a silent, seated breathing exercise kids can do anywhere, practice lazy 8 breathing. draw a picture of a large number 8 lying on its side. Have your child begin on one side of the 8, tracing it with their fingers. They will inhale as they trace half of the 8 and exhale as they trace the other half of the 8.
5. Name It
Help your child to see their worries as separate from themselves.
They can personify their worries as scary monsters, annoying buzzing bees, or some other creature. They can name their worry creature so that they can talk to it, refute its statements, and give it explicit directions like, “Stop buzzing in my ear, Worry Bee! I’m not listening to you anymore.”
All of these exercises are great tools to add to your child’s tool box to help them to cope with anxious feelings and worry.
Remember to have empathy when talking to your child about their fears
Telling your child to “Calm Down” is not effective
Feel the weight of your feet on the ground
Let go of the things you cannot control
Gain clarity of the present moment
Breathe
Acknowledge your worries are separate from yourself
Till next week! Namaste - Cassy