Tips For Managing Stress In Children

Today's children are facing  many kinds of stress.  The stress in children is attributed to many reasons. Exam stress, parental expectations, peer competition, pressures attributed to driving school children overboard has become reason for concern amongst parents, doctors and school authorities.

Children have become so sensitive that they cannot take even the basic pressures, they give up.  It is not only studies pressure but any kind of competition, be it games or extra curricular activities. Today's children think that everything is so easy that they do not want to face problems and choose to run away.

Don’t Set Targets:

Panic amongst the parents has mounted. Some parents stopped setting targets for their children. Earlier parents used to set targets, if kids accomplished, they would give them a gift. Now parents started to give gifts though they do not fare well. In addition to parents trying to ease the pressure from their end, they should do much more than scrapping unrealistic targets.

Be There For Your Child:

  

The joint family culture cushioned these pressure in the past. As parent child communication runs thin due to lack of time spend together, it is a major reason for concern. Children are left on their own to pressure tackle, and not surprisingly crumble. In the absence of parents, children become isolated and introverts. Instead of communication their problems and venting their depression and frustrations, they keep it inside, until it takes a toll on their mental health, leading them to negative approaches and no solutions. There are a number of stressors. Be it competition which is at its peak, exposure to television or the internet. Children are more vulnerable and less secure. They need solutions but don’t get them.

Seek Expert Help:

With students suicide increasing manifolds and the final examinations including school-leaving examinations approaching, it's crucial that parents and educator come together to tackle this problem.

Parents need to be more sympathetic towards their children. Throw away the role model of the picture of the perfect child. This is skinning our children. Ask them what happened at school and read their diary.

Some Ways That Will Help To Reduce Stress in Children:

  

• Make yourself available to guide and listen to children to help them find a way our of pressure situations.

•  Do not compare or rate children. Value them according to their strengths and set targets according   their abilities. Praise them not only for their achievements, but also for their efforts.

•  Do not always measure success in academic accomplishments. Children have many talents, recognize them.

•  If a child shows sings of depression like stays alone, does not go out to play and lack of interest in things they earlier enjoyed, immediately seek a counselor’s help.

•  Lastly, never take suicide threats lightly and concentrate on reducing stress in children.

Solution Strategies For Misbehavior In High School - The Need Of A Counselor

When a child is ill, he is taken to a doctor when he misbehaves or shows signs of being mentally disturbed, then why not refer him to a psychologist? But parents are not equipped to cope with their child's problem of misbehavior.  Parents grow up with the child and may often be encountering such problems for the first time. Besides they are emotionally involved with the child and may find it difficult to be objective they may either underestimate a problem or magnify it.

The cases of problematic children are generally brought to the notice of the counsellors mostly by teachers.  Problems encompass aggressive behavior, restlessness, lack of concentration, dislike for a particular subject, kleptomania, pinching, and stealing, and sleep walking.  While dealing, such cases were not treated in isolation and even the close relatives of the child were also spoken to.

Once there was a child in high school whose writing and speech were found to be disconnected and incoherent. The girl was obviously in need of counselling.  During play therapy the counsellor gave the girl a kitchen set and a doll family. The girl loved putting the pan on the fire and sometimes put the mother in the pan and got busy with other things. Gentle reminders to remove the mother from the pan were of no avail. This gave the counsellor a clue to the root of the girl’s problems.

So, the child's mother too was counselled and, within a year a marked improvement was noticed in the child's behaviour. Soon, the girl picked up typing and needle work and began participating in elocution.  She also won the leadership prize.

In another case of a boy, who could write but would not.  Talking to him and observing him at play, the counsellor found that the boy used those tactics to tease his mother and distract her attention from younger sibling. This case was also handled by a counsellor with the help of a psychiatrist and today the boy is an average performer.

In diagnosing and treating problem cases the counsellor use the standard techniques of drawing, coloring, sand therapy and story telling. In one of the schools in the corner of the play ground a sand pit. Counsellors make abundant use of this in diagnosing case as sand soothes the nerves, relaxes the child and makes it talk.

The counsellors believed implicitly in telling a child stories, as stories capture the child's imagination, draw him or her out and help to solve problems and take decisions.

Today with the growing tensions both parents and teachers face, a counsellor could help a disturbed to become a well adjusted individual or turn misbehavior into great behavior.

How To Tackle Your Child's Biased Teacher

If you suspect that your child's teacher is biased and is treating your ward unjustly out of spite, what do you do? Do you straight away have a face-to-face confrontation or do you try and find reason behind the teacher's behaviour? Some times it is a better option to check some facts and make it clear whether the teacher is actually biased or there is a miscommunication between your child and the teacher before pulling the teacher up.

As parents our first reaction if our child complains about his teacher is to believe our child. For instance, if your son says that there was no error in his recitation yet the teacher gave him less marks, you give your son full benefit. Similarly when he says that he was left out of the drama because the teacher is biased, you sympathise with him. While it is important to hear the children out it is also equally important to find the reason for the teacher's behaviour.

To come up with a clear perspective, here are some questions you need to ask your child. Take, for instance that your child is left out of the drama.

1) How many children were selected? if your child is omitted, that might be because he was not
suitable to play the role of a certain character.

2) Is your child involved in some other activity, maybe a dance or a song? if so, then you have
no reason for doubt. It may be that your child was interested in doing the drama and since he
did not get a chance, he feels the teacher is partial.

Why do children feel their teacher is biased?

There are a number of reasons why students feel that their teacher is biased. Check some of the facts listed below:

The teacher scolds the student often.

Despite doing well the student's effort is not praised.

The teacher complains about the student to the parents.

The student feels ignored when the teacher pays more attention to
weaker students.

If the student has been a favourite with the previous teacher and this class teacher doesnot
show him the priority, he gets the impression that his teacher is biased.

If he is pampered at home, it is natural to expect his teacher to treat him with the same
affection and overlook his mistakes.

He is finding his lessons tough and by portraying his teacher as prejudiced he puts the onus
of falling grades on the teacher.

While these could be some common reasons why children blame their teachers and convince their parents that their teacher is a villain, there are some genuine cases when teachers are actually biased and if this problem is not sorted out your child could be the sufferer for a whole year.

Like almost every human being, teachers too have their own favourites and if your child is not the lucky one you have reason to be miffed. But when simple favouritism becomes damaging to other students progress and peersonality development its time parents stepped in and sought a solution.

Is the teacher actually biased:

By following your child's progress, it is easy to assess whether your child's being targetted or not. A suddesn decline in the grades is the first sign. Show genuine concern in trying to find the reason. Be responsitve if the teacher provides a reason. Make her provide the solution and show her respect because teachers are thirsty for recognition. Maker her feel how important is her role is in your child's future and she might realise her responsibility and resolve her grudge against your child.

If the matter is not settled, you can take up with principal but ensure that you have all the evidence in your hand. Suggest shifting of your child to another section. Unless your child is really suffering you should not change the school, else your child will get the feeling that you will always bail him out of a tough situation, and he will stop adjusting.

If you are still not convinced, go for a change of school because this can affect the whole outook of your child's school life from a harrowing experience to a memorable one.

How To Tackle Speech Problems In Yound Children

Some children do start speaking late, especially if delay in the onset of speech runs in your family or that of your husband for, in quite a few cases it is hereditary. Another reason for this delay in speech could be that he is not spoken to often enough.  For example, if he is the only child in a nuclear family and you are a working couple. So either talk to him as often and as much as possible or see to it that he interacts with other children in the neighbourhood. Try to spend more time with him and have meaningful conversation.  He will slowly show signs of improvement in his speech.  After a few months, there will be a faster and greater improvement in his speech.

If your child still having speech problems and speaking like a small child, he has to go through all the stages a child has to go through while learning to speak. Do not worry - he will pick up soon enough though it is worthwhile to get him checked by and ENT specialist and a speech therapist.

Learn Parenting Techniques On How To Control Your Child Surfing Internet

There is a condition called the 'internet addiction syndrome' that has come up in recent years. Surfing the nets, chatting, watching porn sites has become a major socio-psychological problem. Being a parent you should know right parenting techniques to tackle this problem.

It is not good even for an adult, leave alone a child, to spend so much time continuously at the computer. Dark circles will soon be the least problems. As times goes by, he will suffer from dryness of eyes and pain in the back and neck. So, please see to it that he gets out of the habit fast.

You have to deal with this issue strictly but not to hurt the child at once, but you will have to be firm with him however much he resists. Allot a fixed time for the internet. Keep the computer in a common living area so that he cannot sneakily go to objectionable sites. See to it that he does not visit cyber cafes or bunk classes in school to go to the computer room. Rope in the help of his  teacher to get him on track. See to it that he does some sort of physical exercise for atleast half an hour in a day. Give him a  healthy, balanced and nutritious diet. Regulate his sleeping habits.   But remember what ever bad habits a child has, are to be corrected at an early stage, don't neglect your child showing the reason that you are too busy with your work.  First try these parenting techniques, if all fails then take him to a psychiatrist.

The Causes Of Poor Performance Of A Child At Study

The poor performance of a child at study is one of the troubling parenting issues in today's world.

The causes for this problem include:

Defective hearing or vision: If it is there, they must be corrected at the earliest for him/her to improve.

Learning disorders: Dyslexia(difficulty in reading), dysgraphia(difficulty in writing could be a cause which must be looked into and treatment planned accordingly. This type of parenting issues must be addressed at an early stage.

Lack of interest in a subject or the way it is taught. Daydreaming can also disturb with school work.

Insecurity is the most important cause of poor performance in an intelligent child. This may be due to problems at home, fear of the teacher or a bully at school.

Poor concentration which again could be due to low intelligence, boredom or dislike of the subject. On the other hand,it could also be because the child is exceptionally gifted and find the work too easy. Such parenting issues should be handled softly so that the child is not hurt mentally.

Conclusion: The children with poor performance are to be taken to a psychologist to have his IQ tested, an ophthamologist for his vision and ENT specialist to test his hearing and act accordingly.