Identifying factors that trigger stress in elementary school can help parents prepare their kids for dealing with complex high school versions of the same types of stress
There are lots of opportunities in the elementary years to identify the stress triggers in your child. As I've encouraged in many of my articles, talking to your children is the best way to anticipate and then address situations requiring parental direction. Here's an example: say your 3rd grader is working on a science project and even though he is following the schedule you and he created to ensure his finishing a day early, he get stressed out whenever you, however innocently, ask him about his progress and need for your assistance. What can you do? Try Asking him:
- What is (fill in name here) doing her project on?
- Have you seen (fill in another name here) project?
- What has (fill in teacher's name here) said about the projects lately?
- Has anyone turned his or her project in early?
Once you've gathered information, you can combine it with what you know about your child's personality to uncover the foundation of his stress. Maybe someone has chosen the same topic, your child feels that another student's project is better than his, the teacher used a project organized differently than your child's as a good example, or someone finished early causing your child to feel behind. Now you can address the fundemental cause of your child's stress instead of the symptom of stress itself.
