IDENTIFYING YOUR CHILD’S PERSONALITY TYPE would be a good beginning to deal with your child’s stress. People are categorized into two personality types the type individual is stung up, easily upset, and obsessive about keeping schedules and getting things done. The type B person is more laid-back, easygoing and adaptive. These Iwo personality types also apply to children. The type A child is more susceptible to negative stress reactions than the type B child. Some indicators that your child has a type A personality are as follows:
The child finds it hard to relax after a day at school, loses temper easily, tries to do more than one thing at a time, is always in a hurry, is motivated by competition, tends to be a leader, is prone to accidents, hates to waste time, talks too fast. Not all of the above mentioned characteristics are neg. five. The problem with type A personality is that the individual is not able to moderate his reaction to different situations. In extreme eases the type A personality gets equally charged about a medical emergency and a sports competition. Though, the type A individuals are more revved up about an event, it does not necessarily mean they would perform better than their less excitable type B peer.
It is not just the personality factor. children who have allergies .n be affected too. An irritable, short-tempered child may be reacting to an unknown allergen. It is important to consider this when dealing with a child’s behavior. Extensive allergy testing can be done at a young age, and the problems can be dealt with at the correct level. Children who have a learning disability have 40-45 percent chance of suffering from clinical depression according to a study done by Dr Warne Weinber of Texas Health Science Centre. The gifted child can also be at risk. These children have little opportunity only to deal with failure, and become over. sensitized to failure.
Throughout their developmental stages children undergo different stresses. Scam, ing aware of what will affect your child’s stress level at different ages can help a parcent reduce some basic issues in tense times. The two year old experiences sinus from fear of strangers; toilet training and bedtime are hated. Hospitalisation and doctors am a problem at this age. Extended periods of time spent away from familiar surroundings can be upsetting.
The three year olds feat to let go of babyhood. They tend to be stubborn, possessive, jealous. and may use fibs to cover their Met.
Four years old develop feelings of insecurity and hence enjoy attention and fear (being rejected or ignored. These children will pick up fears from adults such as fear of animals, heights, snakes, darkness etc.
A five year old may develop irrational feats, and take things out of context causing great anxiety. This age has a great desire to protect belongings; the child may moun a toy if it is broken or Iced.
Sources of stress for the six-year-old include meeting expectations of parents, demands of a full-time. school schedule, and competition with peers There is often sibling rivalry at this stage and an inability to tolerate teasing from friends or family. The child finds it difficult to sit still and struggle with decision making, necessary with their increasing independence.
The moody and pensive type is the seven-year-old. There is a continual need for praise from family and peers. The child experiences strew when disturbed or forced to leave a favorite activity. Friendships can cause emotional upsets at this stage.
The eight-year-old becomes self critical about appearance, ability, and performance. An increased resentment toward parental authority is noticed. The child may desire to be left at some for short periods of time but at the same time is still uneasy with new responsibilities.
The nine year old may be rebellious, with a strong attachment to dignity, and is easily embarrassed, resulting in great emotional turmoil. A child may demand personal rights be respected, and insist on fair play at this level.
Preparing for adolescence, the ten to twelve-year-old has a new level of awareness concerning social problems. Too much freedom may cause confusion and more emotional upset resulting in had decisions. Children wish to keep paw with their peers and try to impress their friends. The adolescents can often experience a burn out at this stage d they are involved in too many activities. The push to gain independence increases, but the need for postal intervention is at its peak for this age group.
Parents can gain better understanding ol their child’s problems by becoming more aware of the stresses in their child’s specific development stage. It is important to evaluate each child and the situation to determine what is causing the behaviour. If it is determined that the child is not able to cope with stress well, a parent can take several steps to assist the child. The first step is to identify how the child reacts to stressful situations. If the child becomes consistently with. drawn, whiney or aggressive when faced with difficult situations, it should not be punished.
The parent needs to look at these stress related behaviors and use them as a .e to talking about the situation with the child. When approaching the child the parent should be in a position to listen and empathies with the child. There should be little advice given, and no scolding in this process. discipline is necessary it should be dealt with at a later rinse, not when the child is exhibit ins a stress teach.
It is important that the parent accepts the child’s feelings. Countering the child’s feelings with negative statements will only came mom stress Appreciative comments from parents can support coping strategies of the child, helping the child to look positively at an emotionally upsetting situation. The parent may further help the child by having the child role-ploy situations !hat are particularly upsetting for the parent Allow the child to choose the role, and act out the situation. It helps to have it turn out in a funny or ridiculous manner. If the child can approach the situation with humour, it loses its stressful impact.
Explaining our fallibility can help the child and that failure is part of the teaming process. When a child continuous accident, it is a important to downplay the importance of these mistakes, so the child will not focus on the negative events inks personal experiences,
Stress is neither good nor bad. It assists people in motivation at times, but can be paralyzing if it Is at too great a level. Its important to assist children in coping with stress early in life, so they can effectively deal with it later —after all stress is an inevitable part of life.
