We’ve all had the experience of our kids having temper tantrums. At a certain age, we imagine that they’ll grow out of it, that they’ll learn better ways to cope with their feelings and develop better frustration tolerance. We think that with time and age comes a better ability to cope with difficult feelings, and while that may be partly true, that is assuming our kids know how to support themselves with these difficult feelings, whether it be anger, sadness or worry. We as adults may still struggle with coping and helping ourselves through these hard feelings.
The truth is although schools are preparing our kids academically and doing their best to support the emotional needs of our little ones, skills for coping with emotions like sadness, anger and worry are not part of the school curriculum. If they are taught at schools, they narrow in on only one way to cope, such as through mindfulness, without providing a range of options for kids who may not connect to breathing techniques and being in the present moment.
Aside from coping with feelings of frustration, anxiety is another concern that impacts more and more kids. In fact, anxiety is one of the most common mental health concerns among adults and children, impacting upwards of 20% of children and adolescents at some point in their lifespan. I’ve heard numerous parents concerned about their kids’ worries, their perfectionism, their struggles with society anxiety, or the stories they tell themselves about the bad things that will happen, and not knowing how to help them.
My upcoming program, The Confidence Lab, is not just for kids; it’s for their parents too. While the kids get to take part in engaging art and science projects every week and learn kid-friendly ACT and CBT techniques to cope with their feelings, parents will receive a week-by-week guide on continuing to help their child at home with additional conversation starters and opportunities for connection. They’ll also receive an eBook with resources, creative ideas and tips, and additional activities to help their child manage their feelings and build healthy self-esteem at home and to demystify the myths on what actually works and what doesn’t. To learn more about my upcoming program, visit https://cominghometherapy.ca/the-confidence-lab/
The eBook for parents, called the Confidence Guide, will be available for individual sale as well, for parents who may not necessarily want to sign their child up for the group but who want to know more on how they can help their kids manage difficult emotions, build healthy self-esteem and gain tools, ideas and resources to empower them to help their child. The guide will be available for sale on my website in summer 2024. If you’re interested in being notified once the eBook is available for sale, feel free to send me a message via the contact form at the bottom of this page.
