LCSD Excellence March 2020 Special Edition LCSD Excellence March 2020 Issue VIII | Page 29

5 Keep Calm and Manage Stress
COVID-19 PARENTING
This is a stressful time. Take care of yourself, so you can support your children.
You are not alone
Listen to
your kids
Millions of people have the same fears as us. Find someone who you can
talk to about how you are feeling. Listen to them. Avoid social media that
makes you feel panicked.
Be open and listen to your
children. Your children will
look to you for support
and reassurance. Listen
to your children when they
share how they are feeling.
Accept how they feel and
give them comfort.
Take a break
We all need a break sometimes. When your
children are asleep, do something fun or relaxing
for yourself. Make a list of healthy activities that
YOU like to do. You deserve it!
Take a
Pause
1-minute
relaxation
activity that
you can do
whenever you
are feeling
stressed or
worried
Step 1: Set up
• Find a comfortable sitting position, your feet flat
on the floor, your hands resting in your lap.
• Close your eyes if you feel comfortable.
Step 2: Think, feel, body
• Ask yourself, “What am I thinking now?”
• Notice your thoughts. Notice if they are negative
or positive.
• Notice how you feel emotionally. Notice if your
feelings are happy or not.
• Notice how your body feels. Notice anything that
hurts or is tense.
Taking a Pause can also be helpful when you find your child
is irritating you or has done something wrong. It gives you a
chance to be calmer. Even a few deep breaths or connecting
with the feeling of the floor beneath can make a difference.
You can also Take a Pause with your children!
Step 3: Focus on your breath
• Listen to your breath as it goes in and out.
• You can put a hand on your stomach and feel it
rise and fall with each breath.
• You may want to say to yourself “It’s okay.
Whatever it is, I am okay.”
• Then just listen to your breath for a while.
Step 4: Coming back
• Notice how your whole body feels.
• Listen to the sounds in the room.
Step 5: Reflecting
• Think ‘do I feel different at all?’.
• When you are ready, open your eyes.
For more information click below links:
Parenting tips
from WHO
Parenting tips
from UNICEF
In worldwide
languages
EVIDENCE-BASE
The mark “CDC” is owned by
the US Dept of Health and
Human Services and is used
with permission. Use of this
logo is not an endorsement
by HHS or CDC of any
particular product, service,
or enterprise.
Parenting for Lifelong Health is supported by the UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents Hub, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme and the Horizon 2020
Research and Innovation Programme, Oxford University Innovation GCRF Sustainable Impact Fund, UNICEF, the Leverhulme Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, WHO, CIDA, the National Research Foundation of South Africa,
Ilifa Labantwana, Rand Merchant Bank Fund, the ApexHi Charitable Trust, the John Fell Fund, the Evaluation Fund, the UBS Optimus Foundation, USAID-PEPFAR, the Wellcome Trust, Grand Challenges Canada and Wellspring Advisors.