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Tag Archives: anxiety

Have you ever heard of kidsLINK or Tools for Life?

January 05, 2012   admin   No comments

Debbie Engel is the Manager of Early Intervention Services at kidsLink in Kitchener, Ontario. I came across the kidsLink services a number of months ago and just before Christmas I had a wonderful opportunity to speak to Debbie. I also took some time to do a webinar for their “Toolsfor Life” Program. It is a wonderful program that is accessible for parents, schools and child care providers. It provides valuable tools that help develop self management and problem solving skills. Some of the strategies they incorporate we have used at home which makes me more confident in my own parenting.

I couldn’t help but ask Debbie to guest post because I truly feel that the services and the products that they are delivering to our community are amazing. This is the kind of support that I am speaking about when I talk about “building that village of support”.

Thank you so much Debbie for being a guest here. I am sure that you have provided my readers with great tools and information. If you have time please check out their free webinar; it is time very well spent.

Supporting resilience in our children.

I was attending a concert at my 12 year old son’s school the other day and was impressed with all the talented individuals who were vibrating with enthusiasm and excitement. It was an incredible event but got me to reflecting on how overwhelming this event might have been from children and adult who struggle with social anxiety. Just 5 years ago my son would not have participated in such an event. His level of anxiety would be so high that he would be in tears and physically sick before the concert even happened. It was so hard for him because he wanted to participate but didn’t have the skills and strategies to regulate him or overcome his fears. I wondered how many other children didn’t attend the concert due to fear and anxiety. How many opportunitie do they miss out on? All Children but especially those children who struggle with anxiety need concrete tools that they can use to help assist them in learning to self regulate and cope in stressful situations.
Tools for Life Relationship-building Solutions is a training curriculum and set of tools for adult use with 3 to 10 year olds to teach positive language and behaviour that help build strong relationships and resilience. Tools for Life is used in homes, childcare centres, schools to create common language and support consistency amongst everyone supporting children. This consistency provides familiarity and predictability for children and allows for easier transitions from one place to another.
Children do well when they can. We all want to feel successful and confident in lives but we need to be taught the language and tools to achieve this. Check out our website at and view some of our free webinars for more information.

Debbie Engel
Manager Early Intervention Services
Manager Tools for Life
kidsLINK

Picture courtesy of Tools for Life

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8 ways to keep your sanity during the holidays

November 30, 2011   admin   No comments

I was a little shocked to see that my last blog post was on November 18th. I knew it had been a while but didn’t think so much time had lapsed. We’ve had a bit of a roller coaster ride lately and as much as I love talking things out here at the blog sometimes life takes a turn that just gives you little time at the end of the day to share and has you so emotionally spent that my eyes are too tired to see any more.

So, I thought to kick start the return of (hopefully daily) entries here at the blog we’d delve right into the craziness of Christmas. I don’t know about you but we’ve already begun the seasonal parties and anxiety is running high. On top of a bit a medical scare we’re all a little over-stressed, over-whelmed and over-tired. So when I came across this article today I thought it would be perfect to share. The 8 ways to keep your sanity during the holidays is perfect to remind us in a no nonscence way that there really is a way around the Christmas craziness. Hope you enjoy it!

The weather outside might be frightful but inside it’s definitely worse. According to New York psychologist Jay Seitz, 25 percent of people experience some kind of holiday anxiety or depression. That is, one in four people sipping eggnog feel like that stale, bland, unpopular fruitcake that was re-gifted five times before it was fed to the neighbor’s cat on Christmas Eve. Yes, the holidays do bring a magic and excitement to the month of December, but the stress, loneliness, and blues pre-packaged with the festivities can be enough to drag a quarter of us across the tenuous line from sanity to insanity.

Here are eight tips intended to keep you from hurling the mistletoe at Uncle Fred because he asked for the butter in the wrong tone of voice.

1. Find your kind of people

The good/bad news of holiday depression is that so many people suffer from it that it’s easy to find a person with whom to relate. It’s unfortunate that one-fourth of the US population would prefer to skip the month on December. However, this means that people who hide from carolers are certainly not alone—and, if they join up with the folks chucking holiday letters in the trash unopened, they will feel a companionship that can definitely lift their moods. The trick is identifying this 25 percent.

Here’s a hint. They are typically the ones who don’t say much after the question, “How are you?” Or, if they do, their response is something like, “Okay… How are you?,” which is code for “How the hell do you think I am?” Stick with them.


Read the original article by THERESE J. BORCHARD at the World of Psychology

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Dance Painting reduces stress

October 23, 2011   admin   No comments

I found this post today about dance painting and I’d love to try it with Sydney. I’m not sure how well it would go as the performance anxiety might over rule my enthusiasm. Lately it has been all about painting and drawing and colouring for her and it seems like a wonderful opportunity to let her creativity and vision come to life. Take a look at what it takes to encorporate in some dance painting to relieve anxiety in our wondeful children.

By Lori Lite and Sherry Segal

Separation anxiety, sharing teacher’s attention with a group, making new friends, taking turns, controlling impulses can all be exciting but stressful new learning experiences for preschoolers.

With 70% of grade school age children admitting that they worry, it is never too early to introduce relaxation to children. This creative activity makes for stress free fun!
Stress can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed — even preschoolers.

A wonderful activity to help preschoolers reduce anxiety and stress is dance painting.
The combination of dance and play provides them with the perfect opportunity to really let loose!

Here’s what you will need:

• Mural paper or craft paper
• Paint
• Pans (for paint)
• Tape

Read the full article

Originally posted October 20, 2010

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Halloween for Hunger

October 19, 2011   admin   No comments

Halloween is just around the corner and it is always a challenge around here. Sydney has so many food allergies that going out trick or treating is somewhat disappointing for her. Then, there is the whole overwhelming factor. She is good with costumes that are funny but gruesome costumes scare her and all the scurrying around is sometimes way to of an overload for her. We always encourage the kids to try, to challenge themselves a bit and Halloween is no different. We encourage Sydney to find a costume and try to get out of the house but then all the candy that she can’t eat is highly disappointing. When you are relegated to Kit-Kat, Aero, Smarties the rest of the bag generally goes in the trash.

So here’s an idea. I just heard about “Halloween for Hunger” . Instead of the kids collecting candy on October 31st the kids can collect canned goods for local food banks. Thanks to “Free the children” for starting such a great initiative.

Free the children Halloween for Hunger Initiative
Every year on October 31, young people trick-or-treat with our Halloween for Hunger campaign, collecting non-perishable food items for local food banks instead of candy. One of Free The Children’s two local campaigns, Halloween for Hunger gives youth a unique opportunity to help end hunger in their own communities—and raise awareness of an often invisible local problem.

In 2010 alone, over 182,825 youth participated, donating 609,225.4 pounds of food to their local food banks. That’s enough to feed 119 families of four for a whole year!

How incredible is that! Thanks to the Yummy Mummy site for putting the information on their site. Here’s what you need to know.

From the Yummy Mummy Website
Halloween for Hunger – the perfect way to start living the “We” movement – today! Why does this program make us so happy? Well, for starters, it’s an easy way to teach your kids about the power of giving back. Instead of trick-or-treating for candy on October 31, Halloween for Hunger asks your kids to collect non-perishable food items for local food banks. Because, with hundreds of thousands of Canadians relying of food banks to feed their children – this issue is scarier than all the ghosts and goblins of Halloween combined!

It’s easy!

1) Register as a group or individual here.

2) Find the food bank nearest you. Notify them about your campaign in advance. They may have useful info for you – like what types of foods they’re most in need of. Make a plan to drop off your collection after Halloween.

3) Print Halloween for Hunger cards online (scroll to the bottom of the page) and, distribute them to the houses you visit.

Not only is this for a super important cause but it’s also a sure-fire way to eliminate some of that excess candy (read: tummy aches, toothaches and headaches – for mom!) that’ll invade your home at the end of this month.

See the full article from the Yummy Mummy site.

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Children and Anxiety

October 10, 2011   admin   2 Comments

I came across a great article today on the Be a Fun Mum website. There was guest post by Nicole from Gateway Therapies about children and anxiety. She decided not only to get some information from the experts but went right out to the people in the front lines; yes, you guessed it the parents. So she’s asked some pretty important questions. Find out what other parents think and experience when it comes to parenting their anxious children.

Table 2: What makes your child/ren anxious (that you know of)? Tick all that apply.

See Table

Other responses included thunder, dogs, balloons, swimming, conflict with friends, and being disciplined. One parent wrote:

“Since experiencing a bad storm last year my 8 year old is very anxious about any bad weather event. Even rain triggers a bit of anxiety. During the bad storm we lost power and I think she is particularly concerned about the house going dark in a storm again”.

The more common triggers appear to be fear of unfamiliar situations, places and people. One could argue that these are sensible fears, as they can protect us from danger. But the next question is, when does anxiety become a problem?

“Anxiety is a normal part of children’s development. But it’s estimated that anywhere between 8-22% of children experience anxiety more intensely and more often than other children, stopping them from getting the most out of life”.
Raising Children Network, 2009.

So, anxiety can become a problem. The good news is there is a lot you can do to help. It’s about finding what works best for you and your family. I asked parents in the survey how they help their child when they are anxious.

Table 3: Which strategies do you use to help your children when anxious?

Read the full article

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