Message from the Guidance Officer
Welcome back to Term 3. I don't know if it's my aging that's making time speed up but where is the year going? I trust you all had safe and enjoyable holidays – I was fortunate to take my daughter to Chillagoe at last and explore the magnificent caves, which showed me more amazing landscapes and resources in our Shire and further vindicates why I chose to make Mareeba Shire my home.
My duaghter's anxiety in entering some of the caves led me to think how children present anxiety in unknown circumstances and how the anxieties can be overcome through building resilience.
- Research states anxiety in children is increasing (Sicouri, 2022). The antidote is an increase in emotional resilience ability to enable coping with ups and downs and enable children to bounce back from the challenges they experience, whether it be moving home, changing schools, studying for a test or dealing with the death of a loved one. Building resilience helps children not only to deal with current difficulties that are a part of everyday life, but also to develop the basic skills and habits that will help them deal with challenges later in life, during adolescence and adulthood. This is important for children's mental health. Children with greater resilience are better able to manage stress, which is a common response to difficult events. Stress is a risk factor for mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, if the level of stress is severe or ongoing. Resilience is dictated partly by the individual characteristics we are born with (our genes, temperament and personality) and partly by the environment we grow up in — our family, community and the broader society. The four key aspects we can do as parents to support our children's resilience are to teach them to
- Build good relationships with others including adults and peers (spend quality time with your child, support your child to build relationships with other adults, help your child develop social skills and friendships with peers, help your child to develop empathy).
- Build their independence (encourage your child to prepare their own school lunch or contribute to cooking the family meal – gradually increase the complexity of the tasks as your child builds their independence).
- Learn to identify, express and manage their emotions
Use open-ended questions with them -How was your day? How did you manage that?
Encourage your child to talk about feelings; acknowledge when they are distressed – it's OK to cry
Help with emotional regulation (Help your child respond to, and manage their emotions, such as through positive self-talk, self-compassion, a sense of optimism and a positive attitude. If your child's self-talk is negative – for example, “I'm going to die of embarrassment speaking in front of my class", help them reframe their self-talk to something like, “Public speaking isn't my favourite thing, but I'll be able to cope".
- Build their confidence by taking on personal challenges (encourage free play, give your child opportunities to experience 'everyday' adversity. This might include being involved in sporting activities where there is the likelihood of losing. Learning how to deal with the disappointment of losing will help your child learn how to manage obstacles and other set-backs they experience in life).
(Beyond Blue, 2022)
On this note VPG in Mareeba is hosting a magnificent FREE parenting program (FEAR-LESS TRIPLE P) in managing children's anxiety and enabling emotional resilience with two-hour sessions starting 19th July, with follow up sessions on 26th July and 2nd August. Please see the flyer HERE. For further information please contact me at the school or VPG (Judy) direct on 0437 818 623.