Make Your Home a Safe Haven
- Keep a calm, structured atmosphere at home. Daily routines and plenty of quiet time are needed.
- Cut back on activities that take you away from your child's presence. Club meetings and working overtime can wait. Your child cannot.
- Bring more laughter and pleasurable activities into your family's daily life.
- Emphasize family rituals and traditions.
Practice Good Problem Solving
- Take care of yourself. Face problems head on and take action to maintain your well-being.
- Widen your circle of support. Talk with friends and family, join a support group, attend church regularly, seek professional help for problems.
- Don't be too soft or overly indulgent. Instead, be a strong and powerful presence for your child. Keep the control and power with the parents, not the child.
- Use firm but loving discipline. Increase, rather than decrease, your expectations of responsibility and respect from your child.
Don't Ignore Feelings
- Help your child learn to recognize and name her feelings. Show acceptance of negative feelings, but not negative behaviors.
- Talking it out really does help prevent a child from "acting out" negative emotions. If your child can't talk to you about his difficulties, find someone with whom he can talk. Even short-term counseling can be beneficial to a child experiencing life stress.
- Provide creative outlets for your child - basic art supplies, books, Lego, whatever she enjoys.
- Hug your child often. Tell him you love him every day.
The goal of these interventions during times of stress in your child or family is to provide a safe haven at home. Following these principles will give the child a sense of security and protection, allowing them to cope with painful feelings and learn resiliency and self-control. Behavior problems diminish and development stays on track even during the toughest times for families.
Next page > Helpful Resources on Childhood Stress and Trauma
