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Your continued support for children during significant life changes can help ease the tension they feel. The secret is to keep at it until you notice a positive change in their adjustment.
Children are usually the most vulnerable age group when situations escalate for all the wrong reasons. For example, at the height of the pandemic, Childline services recorded a 10% increase in loneliness counselling. Reports indicated that several children needed emotional and psychological help to deal with the pandemic’s huge changes.
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Ways To Support Your Kids Through Big Life Changes
Providing support creates several opportunities to bond with your kids. Hopefully, these points will offer relevant insight into how to help your kids adjust to significant life changes.
Provide age-specific answers to their questions
Naturally, kids love to ask questions about anything. Therefore, you should be ready for increased probing as they try to wrap their minds around significant changes around them. Children need well-packaged information regardless of what may have caused these life changes. Indeed, the information offered will depend on the child’s age. An older child may have better cognitive processes to make sense of more demanding details.
On the other hand, a younger child will need a more watered-down delivery. In this case, it would not be advisable to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. Your decision to reassure them of your protection and support may help them know that you are in control of the situation. Unlike adults, children need careful monitoring and constant support to help them adjust to huge life changes. Your reassurance as a parent or adult can make a lot of difference in their lives.
Be proactive in planning fun activities
What’s better than taking a well-deserved break from a negative experience? Your children will be thankful for the change. Most likely, as a parent, you have tried to keep a brave front the entire time for the children’s sake. Now is the time to also let loose and shake the anxiety away. This includes taking adventure holidays if necessary. There are many adventurous fun activities you can introduce your kids to.
Help them understand that feeling scared is normal
Fear is a natural human reaction to pain, harm or danger. This may be more pronounced for children because of the limited information they may have about the situation in question. It may be grief, divorce, a move abroad or other significant life changes. The underlying factor is that most children will react with fear and anxiety to a sudden change. In trying to get them back to normalcy, you should be ready for apprehension and possible resistance to support.
According to child psychologists, minors may not fully understand that what they feel is fear. It may manifest as increased anxiety, persistent irritation and wanting things to return to what they knew. As a parent, your role is to help them acknowledge these feelings as normal. In due time, they will be convinced that fear is an emotional phase that can be overcome.
Your continued support for children during significant life changes can help ease the tension they feel. The secret is to keep at it until you notice a positive change in their adjustment.
