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Social and emotional development is a child’s ability to understand the feelings of others, understand and control his or her own feelings and behaviors, and build relationships with peers and adults. Having positive social and emotional skills is important throughout life and can have an impact on how children function at home, school, and in the community. It is important to know that children are not born with these skills, but they can be acquired. It is the role of parents, caregivers, and teachers of children to teach and foster these abilities. This page provides resources and suggestions to help children understand their feelings and cope with worry.
Mindfulness & Coping with Worries: Helpful Activities, Books, and Resources
Mindfulness & Coping with Worries: Helpful Activities, Books, and Resources
Teach Kids About Mindfulness: Using Everyday Objects
How to Deal with Stress and Worry
How to Deal with Stress and Worry
5-point scales are a great tool promote awareness of anxiety brought on by specific triggers (or the trigger itself) and metacognition of how one can use strategies to overcome anxiety brought on by triggers. They can be used in a variety of ways and promote self-advocacy. Here is a fun Minecraft themed 5-point scale.
"Worry Warrior" craft from Crayola
What To Do When You Worry Too Much is an interactive self-help book designed for 6–12 year olds and their parents. The developmentally friendly approach makes difficult concepts easy to understand and built in activities help children to master new skills related to reducing anxiety.
Navigating childhood challenges can be stressful! Sometimes deep breathing isn’t the solution that works for your child. When your child is in need of stress relief, provide various strategies and see what works. This list of 50 Calm Down Ideas is a great resource.
Coping Cat Parents: This website provides psychoeducation, strategies you can apply at home, books, online resources, and other tools for parents, children, and educators. Helpful tips from experts include:
- Showing your child empathy and compassion during times of worry
- Acknowledging (by listening and re-stating) the child's fears to indicate that you understand why they feel distressed
This website also includes 10 interactive training modules called Child Anxiety Tales, which "includes 10 35-minute web-based fully animated modules that teaches parents background and principles of cognitive-behavioral treatment, relaxation techniques, and step-by-step guidelines on helping children and adolescents understand how to manage anxiety."
Test Anxiety: How to Help Your Child Cope with Test Anxiety: While it is typical for children to feel nervous about taking tests, many students feel more than the "normal" amount of stress and worry about tests. Understood.org provides several strategies to help children of all age levels cope with test anxiety.
For example, at the elementary school level:
- Ask your child what is making him or her feel nervous
- Preview test formats
- Use your child's strengths to create comfortable study methods
- Provide honest and specific praise to increase your child's confidence
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