‘I am super stressed out. What can I do to unstress?’ A 10-year-old child recently asked me this question, using these exact words.
Dan Siegel, psychiatrist and author of ‘The Whole Brain Child’, coined the phrase Name it to tame it. He describes labelling big emotions as one of the first steps in managing big emotions and reducing emotional reactivity. Some research studies suggest that simply labelling our big emotions can help reduce the feeling by 50%.
When this child labelled their emotions by telling me they felt stressed out, I first congratulated them. 😊 This confused them at first, but then brought a big smile to their face, which already helped reduce some of the stress. For a child to understand their feelings and then verbalise them, is huge progress. 👏
I then asked the child what strategies they have used in the past that helped them feel calmer and more balanced.🧘♀️ Together we went through these strategies and the child used some of these to further reduce stress. Now, I am not a therapist, but I felt that taking the time to listen, accept and connect with the child was so valuable.
Many children in our communities are not able to name their big emotions, yet. Neither could I when I was young! 😁 This is why I created an 8-week mindfulness program for primary school students in the Adelaide region. The program is bursting with tools to improve children’s interoception and emotional literacy and contains invaluable mindfulness practices and theory. My program supports children in growing up to be confident, resilient and compassionate. 🧡 Let me know if you are interested, so I can provide more details! 😊
