How to Help Your Child Calm Down

Often when our kids start to feel overwhelmed by emotions or challenging feelings they will experience a range of physiological responses before their behaviour starts to escalate to tantrum or full meltdown status.

Part of helping your child learn calming techniques, is helping them to identify what the physiological triggers are for them prior to a tantrum or meltdown.

To put this into terms that are easy to understand for your little one, simply explain to them that when they start to feel mad, angry, sad, frustrated, embarrassed etc, they can feel it in their body as:

• Sweaty palms
• Hot / red face (or skin)
• Heart beating fast
• “Butterfly’s” or upset feeling in the stomach
• Clenched fists

…just to name a few!

The physiological response of the body will be different for each child, so it is important to talk with your child about how they personally feel “in their body” when they start to feel overwhelmed by emotions.

By helping your child identify what these physiological responses are for them, you will be able to help them choose to use calming techniques before they start to feel overwhelmed by emotion (as once they have identified these reactions and know how they feel, they can use them as “signs” that they need to practice their calming techniques).

There are some great resources out there to help your little ones work out “how their body feels” when they are mad, sad, angry, frustrated etc so if you would like to try this out head over to pinterest or teachers pay teachers for some great freebies, or simply get in touch with me and I’ll be happy to point you towards some resources I love and have used in the past.

If you have the chance to try this technique out I’d love to hear how you go (comment at the bottom of this page or pop an email through to me dominique@ohbeehave.com.au)!

Do your kids love colouring-in? Before you go, make sure you scroll down to check out the FREE Deep-Breathing Colour-In Sheet below to help you introduce calming techniques to your child.