5 Stepst to Stress-Guard Your Family
Part 1: Recognize the importance of family stress management Joe and Emily live in Southern California with their three young children. Both work and must commute 2 hours daily on busy freeways, often not getting home until 7:30 PM, exhausted and depleted. Stressed, they have little patience for the antics of their
young children. This results in frequent shouting matches, defiance on the part of the children, and escalating family tension. As the above illustrates, stress is often an underlying cause of anger in family members. Sometimes the stress is caused by events outside of the family which family members bring into the home. In other cases, the behavior of family members creates stress and tension in the home. In either case, it becomes a problem when parents find themselves constantly yelling at their children or disagreeing with
each other on parenting strategies. In the meantime their children continue to do what they please-or continue bickering and fighting with each other. When not addressed, stress becomes a major factor in marital unhappiness and, ultimately, divorce. Stress and family members Joe and Emily both suffered individual stress symptoms. These included fatigue, irritability, angry outbursts, headaches and a discontent with their lives. They began feeling increasingly distant from each other. Their children were also stressed-out; tired, irritable, cranky, and demanding of attention. They often fought with each other and deliberately did things to get each other in trouble with their parents. Symptoms of family stress Just as individuals can become overloaded and stressed-out, so can families. To understand how this can happen, we must remember that families such as Joe and Emily's are the basic building block of our society (like most societies). Part 2: How empathy reduces family anger Families consist of two or more people with shared goals and values and with a long term commitment to each other. Families are supposed to help children learn how to become responsible, successful, happy, and well-adjusted adults.
When this no longer happens due to stress, the family unit becomes dysfunctional -as the family no longer serves its purpose fully, easily or consistently. Individual isolation We can recognize the dysfunctional family by noting that parents and children no longer turn to each other for support, encouragement, guidance, or even love. Such family members may continue to live in the same house-but not feel
emotionally attached to each other. They fail to view their family as a warm place to retreat to from the stresses and demands of the outside world. Stress-Guard your family Tip #1- Teach your children "resiliency" -the ability to handle stress and respond more positively to difficult events. Help your children practice "bouncing back" by emphasizing the importance of having friends and being a friend; setting new goals and plans to reach them, and believing in themselves. Tip #2- Commit to stable family rituals. Have a way to leave each other in the morning, and to re-connect in the evening; have a Sunday morning ritual or a Friday night family pizza ritual. Rituals create a sense of security and predictability -both excellent stress buffers. Tip #3- Model and teach your children conflict resolution skills. Children learn how to handle conflict by watching their
parents. All couples have conflicts; better parents model good conflict resolution skills for their children. These skills include compromise, calm discussion, and focus on problem-solving. Encourage your children to find a way to
resolve their own conflicts rather than jumping in and punishing one or the other child whom you think (perhaps, wrongly) is the troublemaker. Tip #4- Introduce a family "better health" plan. This includes proper nutrition, exercise, and adequate sleep each night. The family may also want to look at time management-and explore how how better time management might reduce both personal and family stress. Tip #5- Minimize criticism and take time to support each other each day. Excessive criticism is extremely harmful to both children and parents. Emotional support by family members is an extremely important buffer to family stress. Dr. Tony Fiore is a So. California licensed psychologist, and anger management trainer. His company, The Anger Coach, provides anger and stress management programs, training and products to individuals, couples, and the workplace. Sign up for his free monthly newsletter "Taming The Anger Bee" at http://www.angercoach.com and receive two bonus reports.
MORE RESOURCES:
Gaga over yogaCalgary Herald, Canada - 5 hours agoNot that an activity that is this much in vogue needs me to defend it, but I've actually heard people slagging yoga. There is no shortage of Garfield types ... |
Johnson turns to yogaThe Press Association - 2 hours agoManchester City midfielder Michael Johnson is having yoga sessions in a bid to cure his nagging pelvic problems. Johnson, who signed a new five-year ... |
Stressed out execs seek relief in YogaEconomic Times, India - Oct 12, 2008Corporates too are becoming proactive and invite yoga consultants to hold workshops and classes in offices. “Such activities help build a good working ... |
Yoga vs. Pilates -– what’s the difference?Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - 6 hours agoPilates is more than just movements on a mat, and yoga is far more than stretching. Both are considered mind-body exercises because they require those who ... |
Yoga - Google News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Getting Rid of Your Frustrations
Punch a pillowScream into a pillowTurn on your favorite music and dance, sing..
How Stressed-Out Are YOU?
Are you feeling stressed out? Too many things to do, too little time? One more thing added to the To-Do list and you feel like you'll explode?Whoa there, no exploding allowed! You can handle it-just listen in.Listen? To what?To your self-talk.
One Way to Beat Stress: Arrive Early!
I'm so excited that I have discovered this secret today. It's something that I promise will reduce the stress level in your lives.
Stress Management and Mastery: Breakdown or Breakthrough?
Q: "My career, though very very stressful, is one that I thoroughly enjoy and do not want to change. Because I'm under so much stress, my counselor has recommended that I eliminate all stress from my life.
Using Exercise to Relieve Stress
Most people know of the importance of exercise as a means of weight loss, strength gains, and increased endurance, but exercise can play a major role in the reduction of stress. Along with just stress relief, exercise can help improve mental health, emotion and mood.
Myth Busting: What Causes Mental Breakdown?
I came out of a nightmare 5-year period of anxiety and depression and I did it without taking any drugs. What frustrated me is that despite advances in understanding as to why people become stressed, depressed and anxious, sufferers are still told numerous myths about what causes their illness.
Stress Management: Ditch Thinking or Destination Thinking
Imagine driving down the road. You are driving with a great amount of anticipation, on your way to an important destination, a place you have always wanted to go.
10 Ways to Reduce Commuting Stress
Do you get out of your car with a queasy stomach, a headache and your blood pressure registering through the roof? If you do, that energy vulture called stress may have sent your pulse skyrocketing. In a study conducted at the University of California at Irvine, researchers found that the stress of commuting takes a major toll on health.
How to Say No and Let Go of Stress
It was one of the first words you learned to say and you used it at every opportunity. Until someone convinced you that you couldn't, or shouldn't.
Workaholism: 4 Universal Laws for Recovery
The Rule of BalanceThere is more to life than work. There are so many other areas of our lives than just work.
Stress & Burnout: The Adrenal Factor
I was a psychotherapist for years before I got involved in the holistic movements..
Stress Managment and Mastery: How to Beat Too Many Hats Syndrome
"One day I'm a mother, One day I'm a lover, What am I supposed to do? Workin' for a livin' All because I'm driven ..
7 Successful Stress Management Techniques
Everyone needs successful stress management techniques. Easy to learn and easy to implement, you can use them for your own stress management or teach them to help others manage theirs.
How Stress Effects Neurotransmitters
The brain uses feel-good transmitters called endorphins when managing daily stress. When the brain requires larger amounts of endorphins to handle increased stress, the ratio of many of the other transmitters, one to another, becomes upset creating a chemical imbalance.
Stress Can Create Symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder
Stress can affect virtually any part of the body and produce physical, mental and emotional symptoms weakening the immune system and impairing coordination and thinking ability. Stress comes from relationships, from school or work situations, and from our own expectations.
Manage Stress and Fear: Visit The Secret Garden!
Recently I completed some new workshop engagements in addition to my coaching and week-long programs. I am very grateful for the opportunity to stretch and learn but am also acutely aware of the stress I am feeling taking on this new work.
Create Reserves for a Stress Free Life
One of the ways I have avoided a lot of stress the last two years is to have a stockpile of birthday and all occasion greetings cards in my filing cabinet. When you work at home like I do, you try to have the least interruptions to your day as possible.
Training Your Mind For Better Business and Leisure
Training Your Mind For Better Business and LeisureModern life moves at a very fast pace. At least, that is how many in Western society describe their existence whereby they rush to work, rush everything they do at work, and do so in a fixed routine which allows for little deviation.
Stress Management Made Simple And Easy...Just Follow Cliff Kuhn M.D.s Foolproof Formula
Stress management is a hot topic; stress-related illness and suffering is at an all-time high in America and increasing every year. Cliff Kuhn, M.
Stress Management
Have you ever said the words, "This job/my life is so stressful!" Or something else along those lines?Most people believe that stress is something that happens in their lives. They believe it is the result of outside circumstances beyond their control.
|
