Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Are we stressing out our kids?

I am supposed to be writing a blog entry for the Monday release of the SFA. Its a good one. Its on my picks of the top 5 rappers of all time. However, I can't write it right now. My creative juices have been stymied by a 3 & 5 year old and their unwillingness to be unconscious. A while ago we reviewed the book "Go the F**k to Sleep." I wasn't terribly impressed with it. The first 2 pages or so are pretty funny the first time you read it and then well its a list of words that just rhyme with sleep and some cuss words thrown in between. Tonight, though I can't get the book's title out of my head.

We have a cornucopia of messed up stuff going on in our house right now. We have an unfinished kitchen, I sleep with a pregnant gal, my 3 year old has moved out of her own room & crib into a room with the 5 year old and big girl bed, and the 5 year old is started kindergarten on Tuesday. Crap, I guess I know why they can't sleep... But can kids really get as stressed as adults? Stress is something I am very aware of and feel that it is the cause to a multitude of health issues. Well there's also doctors and studies that say the same thing but I'd still like some part of that theory. Now taking a step back at our family life and how "unconvential" my kids have been acting as of late, I wonder if stress plays a major role in their life like it does in adults. Typically kids feel no pain. They can run forever and pretty much bounce back from a fall quicker than anyone. You distract them, they go about their merry way as if it never happened. Problem over right? Wrong. At least I think its a bad conclusion. Here's the funny thing, if you google Stress in Children you get all kinds of articles on the symptoms of stress in kids, but when it comes to treating it, there's not much out there.

I deal with some social anxiety issues but I am happily medicated and I think I am as under control as the next person, but my kids are too young to be medicated and I don't want to go down that road if I doon't have to. So, how does a parent get their kids to calm down without dipping the binky in whiskey? My answer right now, is that I have no idea. This is one of those things that I guess I'll learn about and take in stride but I feel bad for my kids. Change isn't always good in their structured lives.

So here's my plan of attack to help my kids and their stress.

  • Use diversion more frequently and effectively - Like Cypress Hill said "When the $&!* goes down, you better be ready." Hopefully these diversions can take their minds off what's bothering them

  • Try to think before I act/speak - No I don't hit my kids but physical reactions to situation can be as powerful as verbal reactions. so If I get all slouchy and huffy with them, they won't react well to that.

  • Play with them more - If I can get down on their level and play a bit more I think it will help relax them and hopefully wear them out so they can sleep easier.


Sound like a good plan? Have any other suggestions? We'd like to hear them.

5 comments:

  1. Have you considered dipping their binkies in whiskey?

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  2. Good message here John - my kid's crave playtime with me as well, sometimes that's all it takes to really make their day. We all have our bad parenting moments, and I always feel guilty when I let my own stress get the better of me. Want to shield them from it as long as I can.

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  3. Thanks Pete. Life get so crazy for ourselves we kind of forget about the kids (at least I do). This was my reality check.

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  4. [...] week I wrote about stressing out our kids and one of the issues that was on the stress radar here was my oldest going back to school. First [...]

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  5. Oh boy...so is this what I have to look forward to? Wait..don't answer that. I want to hopefully go into this being completely blind to what it's really like.

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