With all the holidays’ right around the corner, there is a lot of overwhelming things that come along with it; the loud noises, school breaks, family gatherings, staying up late, throwing off routines, and even fireworks. Pets aren’t the only ones that become anxious and overwhelmed when these things happen, kids of all ages do.
Here are some wonderful tips to help calm your child as well as keeping them safe, happy, and calm during this holiday season.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are a great natural way to calm your child and help them relax when things are getting pretty stressful. They have a ton of different oils that you can mix and match or use solo to create a calm environment. You can use a diffuser in your child’s room, dilute it in their favorite lotions, or even ingest the oils. Use caution and follow directions on bottles.
Headphones
If it is getting too loud for your child and you start to notice they are getting antsy. Grab a pair of headphones and play some relaxing music or video on your phone. You can also just use headphones by themselves to ‘turn down’ the noise so your child doesn’t become overwhelmed by their surroundings. Headphones can help with fireworks, social gatherings, loud music, and any other noises that may cause your child to have anxiety.
Calm down exercises
There are multiple different methods of calm down exercises that you can use to help your child once they start showing signs of being overwhelmed. Some exercises include; rocking back and forth, taking deep breaths, counting backward, counting slowly, walking backward, walking slowly, etc. These will help your child concentrate on the now instead of the then. Once they have finished their exercises and still feel a bit uptight either have them repeat their exercises, start a new exercise, or try another method to calm them down.
Preparing signals
Some children might be too overwhelmed to even have an outburst. Some might shut down completely and become nonresponsive to your questions or concerns. Others might have the opposite reaction and not show any emotions until they have reached their breaking point. Having signals will help avoid those as much as possible.
Before you head out for the day, have a sit-down talk with your child about a simple signal they can do to help you understand when they have had enough. Rather it is a wink, nudge on the shoulder, or a silly face – these will help you both set boundaries so you both can have a relaxing time together.