It’s Spring! The sun is visiting more often, warming up our days a little, giving us longer to work on yard projects and play in the evening, and making most of us smile more. April bounds our way with some fun days, some stressful days, and some days when fun and stress collide.
We can all benefit from a few tips about what to do with stressful days and moments of collision. During KITS, teachers teach your kids a few great stress-relieving strategies that the whole family can benefit from.
- Shrug your shoulders and say “Oh well” when disappointment begins to make you feel frustrated or stressed.
- Deep breathing always helps when it feels like your head might pop off.
- Time out is not just for kids. Parents, grandparents, teenagers, basically everyone can benefit by taking a couple of minutes away from the fray. When moments of stress and negative attitudes begin to overcome us, we can step back and deflate a rising problem. If the bathroom is the only place you can find for a quiet space…take it! Turn on the faucet and give yourself a second to reflect. It’s amazing that we can then return to the group refreshed and with a good attitude.
- Celebrating success is an important strategy. Acknowledging victories small and great with high fives, small dance parties, a hearty “good job,” or a piece of chocolate, can make our perseverance and good choices worth the effort!
April 1st is All Fools Day! Jokes, pranks and laughter to be had by many. April Fool’s Day is not the only day that jokesters like to conjure up a good prank, laughing heartily when their joke is a success. On the other hand, there are those peeps out there that do not enjoy the startling surprise of a well-planned prank. If you fall into this category, it may be a good time to take a few volcano breaths (raising your arms with every deep breath and lowering your arms as you exhale completely).
Spring presents the beginning of Passover for some families and Easter for others. These traditions involve celebrations that include family and friends, food, religious customs and fun adventures like hunting for eggs. With all of this activity we can find ourselves overwhelmed and needing to tap into some self-care skills. Could this be a good opportunity for an occasional time out?
Some families can hardly wait for Earth Day on April 22. A day to celebrate the world we live in and call one another to the responsibility of caring for our world.
Finding all of the creative ways to accomplish this mission is rewarding. With rewards sometimes come added routines and labor that fill our already busy lives. A shoulder shrug with an “oh well” could come in handy if we forget to add that routine into our daily schedule. Try again tomorrow!
Then there is Tax Day which is April 15th. Time to gather records, fill out unpleasant government paperwork, or find the right organization or CPA to do it for you. All in the hope that we won’t have to pay our government and maybe we will even get a refund. The weeks leading up to April 15 and the day itself can cause stress levels to rise. We may need to use all of these strategies during the process. Be sure to have some good chocolate waiting for you to celebrate when you are finished!
After a month chock-full of events and getting through tax season successfully you may want to congratulate yourself, your family, and friends with a quick boogie dance, a giant exhale and high fives. The third Thursday of April is National High Five Day! Congratulate each other with plenty of high fives, down lows, and to0-slow-Joes!
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Text: © Kids In Transition to School 2019
Image: © Darren Baker | Dreamstime.com
