Managing Stress

In this section, you will learn how to create a plan for managing your stress.

The learning objectives for this section are:

Explain how to deal with unhelpful thoughts.
Identify ways to manage stress as a parent.

Relax sticky note surrounded by stress stickey notes.

Introduction

Managing stress and the ever-changing emotions in yourself and your family members can be a challenging task.

Take a moment to think about how you have been managing your stress and emotions.

Select the Play Button to watch Matt and his wife, Crystal, share their experience.

Managing Your Parental Stress

All parents experience stress. When you are under stress, you may feel anxious, irritable, angry, or hopeless.

These emotional reactions can easily make a loving and caring parent shout and lose their cool in a matter of seconds.

Select the Learn More Button to review strategies that will help you interact in a way that models important skills for your child.

Image with a unhappy face outweighing a happy face

Coping with Stress

You may be feeling pressure from work, home, your significant other, past experiences, or your family’s future.

How you deal with this pressure is critical. In this video, Victor shares that he drinks to cope with his stress.

Select the Play Button hear Victor’s story.

Stress Reduction Strategies

Because it's not possible to avoid stress, being able to manage it is crucial.

Here are some effective strategies to manage your stress as a parent.

Select Each Image for a quick overview.

Taking care of yourself

Create some time to spend on yourself every day, even if it is just for a few minutes.

Switching gears between work and home

Create a routine for when you move between work and home to help mark when work ends and home life begins.

Taking care of yourself

Practice individual or interpersonal relaxation exercises to reduce your stress.

Dad and daughter having a hard time with homework

Recognizing when you need a break

Recognize the signs that you are overwhelmed and stressed, and take some time to cool down.

Taking Care of Yourself

Next, you will examine how Victor applies these strategies to manage his stress. Because everyone is different, you will have try different strategies for yourself and see what works best for you.

Taking time to care for yourself can help you:

Focus and have more energy.
Be more present when interacting with your child.
Model self-care skills for your child.

Select the Play Button to learn how Victor created a calendar plan for managing his stress.

Relaxation Techniques

Relaxing your body can improve your energy, productivity, motivation, and decision-making. Most importantly, it can decrease stress hormone levels and blood pressure. As a result, you can interact with your child more positively.

You can practice relaxation individually or with your family.

Select each Icon to learn a different relaxation technique.

Child holding balloons releasing one with Unhelpful Thoughts written on it.

Managing Your Thoughts

Ignoring your feelings, or having unhelpful thoughts, can make it harder to manage your mood.

Because your thoughts and feelings are connected, improving your thoughts will improve your mood and decrease your stress levels.

Select the Learn More Button for specific strategies that may help you tackle these challenges.

Managing Your Thoughts

Although you may not be able to stop unhelpful thoughts, you can deal with them by:

Becoming aware of any unhelpful thoughts you have.
Practice replacing "unhelpful" thoughts with "helpful" ones.

Unhelpful thoughts, such as "He's just a mean child" or "I must be a terrible parent," often lead to anger, guilt and/or frustration. Focusing on such thoughts can push you towards an outburst or other extreme action.

Select the Play Button to listen to Larry's story. If you were him, how would you deal with those unhelpful thoughts?

Be Aware of Your Unhelpful Thoughts

Unhelpful thoughts are often untrue, imbalanced, or inaccurate. That is why they are also known as Thinking Errors.

Being aware of these Thinking Errors will help you prevent them from leading to negative emotions and reactive behavior. The first step of increasing your awareness is to recognize these unhelpful thoughts.

Select Each Button to learn more.

Feeling that you are the cause of a negative event for which you were not responsible. For example, if I had reminded him more often, he would have gotten a better grade.

Use Thought Replacement

Now that you are aware of any unhelpful thoughts, you can practice replacing them with more positive and helpful thinking.

Select the Positive Thought Replacement Handout to review examples.

If you would like additional practice, you can find downloadable Tip Sheets at the conclusion of this section.

Positive Thought
Replacement Handout

Summary and Conclusion

Managing your stress not only models important life skills, but, can also create a safe, healthy and loving environment for your family.

There are many things you can do to help deal with stress, including activities that don't take a lot of time or money. The first step is to recognize your own stress symptoms and find which self-care strategies work for you. Remember, you’re being a good parent by taking care of YOU!

Feel free to download and use these Tip Sheets.

Managing Parental Stress

Thought Replacement
Worksheet

Pleasurable Activities

Dealing with
Unhelpful Thoughts

Larry's Thought
Replacement Worksheet

Calendar Template

Common Signs of Stress