Our kids can experience a lot of stress in school. The sources are endless: grades, tests, bullies, peer pressure, lack of preparation, lack of sleep, teacher concerns, and too many extracurricular activities. As students get older, the causes of stress typically. New environments, new relationships, and costs are added into the mix.
Get Moving
- Students should also be undergoing some form of physical exercise daily.
- Find a time and a place to let your kids run their worries away.
- Although that can be harder during cold weather, it’s vital to get kids out, run off excess energy, and take some deep breaths.
Good Sleep Means Less Stress
Every child varies in the amount of sleep he needs.
However, general guidelines are:
- Preschoolers: 10-13 hours
- School age: 9-11 hours
- Teenagers: 8-10 hours
Bedtimes and times to awaken should be consistent.
Time Management
- Good time management is a learned skill.
- Parents and teachers should start teaching students how to do this when young.
- Parents should access regularly how their children are faring with managing their time.
- Are they gauging the time homework will take accurately?
- Are they sticking to a schedule?
- Even students that do these tasks regularly; their timing may need to be tweaked as they progress.
Create A Good Study Environment
- How does your child learn best?
- Does he do best in a quiet environment?
- Or, does he learn better with quiet music playing in the background?
- Personalize the study area to your child.
- Make sure there are adequate supplies on-hand to thwart distractions.
Organization Matters
- Organization saves time and ensures that assignments do not fall between the cracks.
- Periodically, check assignments with your children.
- Have a central location for important papers.
- Review with them proper note-taking.
Stress-Relief Exercises
- A good attitude does wonders for stress relief.
- Ask your child what good thing he experienced that day.
- It might be something he did for someone else, something that was done for him or something he noticed.
- Another important practice is to practice relaxation techniques.
- Deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation are three ways to help your child relax.
Proper Nutrition Is A Must
Proper nutrition is a must both at school and at home.
Children need all of the below:
- Carbohydrates and fat: provides energy for growth and development
- Calcium: strong bone development
- Iron: Iron is needed to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen throughout our body via the red blood cells
- Protein: Maintains muscles, bones, blood and body organs
