Anxiety can make our bodies feel like a tight coil with nowhere to go, no room for anything. Or it can make us turn inward and shut down. With kids we often don’t consider that they might have some of these feelings too. It’s unlikely they’ll be able to say ‘mum, I’m anxious’. One response might be to encourage kids to get out and play more. Certainly exercise will help. But have you heard of short, active exercises to assist relaxation?
Recently I’ve been posting about the Friends for Life program in the aftermath of entertainer, Robin Williams, suicide. I think it’s good to talk to kids about things as they come up, instead of shielding them from all of life’s problems. Being matter of fact rather than evasive about current issues like this, I believe is more likely to equip them for life. Sometimes we hope that the school or some other party will do all this tricky stuff for us, but God has given parents the primary responsibility of raising their kids. Kids also need to see things modeled; life’s lessons need to be ‘caught’ and not just ‘taught’. It’s the home where they learn the most. So it is over to parents to help their children develop coping strategies so they can deal with anxiety and perhaps, if research is correct, avert later developments of depression.
Last post we saw that our body is our ‘Friend for life’. In fact the course uses the letters of the word ‘Friend’ as an acronym, starting with ‘F’ for Feelings. We need to recognise behaviour that show our kids are anxious and help our kids gain that self-awareness of what feelings are anxious ones. They might feel sick in the tummy; be withdrawn; not want to go to school; stop doing things they normally would enjoy doing. Being aware and listening to our body’s feelings is the first step to dealing with anxiety.
Once aware, the next step is to work on ‘R’ for Relax. This is where the kids are taught simple activities to reduce the body’s tension. In the school class room we had children practice relaxation every lesson by simple, short muscle tightening and releasing exercises. Alternatively the kids sat in rows and gave each other a short ‘pizza’ massage (a fun back massage, pressing and prodding in different ways like you would knead dough and putting ingredients on a pizza). Relaxation, regularly practiced like this, (yes with mum or dad or siblings, but note, no teachers or chaplains!), will give children a tool they can use to alleviate stress and anxiety.
Stress, anxiety is normal, especially when facing new situations. Anxiety can come from having to stand up and give a speech in class for the first time; going to school camp; going to hospital, mummy going away for work etc. The effectiveness of relaxation exercises when practiced over time, show that we can be masters of our bodies. In a sense it is imposing one’s self control. Not letting our bodies overheat and overwhelm us. We don’t have to be hapless victims of our bodily urges. We can grow in self awareness and put in place strategies to ward of excessive worry and destructive patterns of behaviour. This is welcome news: The body God made for us to live in is not just a brute animal. Not just a beast of instinct filled with reactive behaviour. Instead He equipped us with the capacity to rule over our bodies. So we are told in the New Testament (e.g. Galatians 5:22) that when we are truly ‘in sync’ with God, we learn the fruits of His Spirit, one of which is, self control
Further information about Friends for Life can be found at:
