The deep breathing and mindfulness activities we showed you are only a few examples of different coping skills. There is a wide variety of tools and activities out there to suit your child’s specific needs and interests.
This week, we encourage you to work with your child on their materials. Your child has an exercise where they pick coping skills that have worked and that they would like to try, and identify two coping skills to practice this week. Please follow along with them and help them think through what might be helpful!
When doing the exercise with your child, remember that some coping skills may not be options we can always turn to (for example, reading a favorite book or drawing), while other skills can be used more flexibly in a wider range of situations (for example, deep breathing or holding a preferred item or toy).
When deciding whether something “works,” help your child remember to think about whether this method helps your child feel calmer and accomplish their goals.
For example, after Sally takes five deep breaths, she feels more ready to talk to new kids at training. If she has time to read about Saturn at the end of the day, she feels more ready to go back the next day and try again. Both deep breathing and reading work well for Sally because they help her feel more calm and ready to reach her goal of talking to more people. If Sally reads instead of talking to other kids at training, this would not be a good coping skill for her.
Choosing your Coping Tools
Master
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