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 theiryoung 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 witheach 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 feelemotionally 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 theirparents. 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 toresolve 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.
|
|
|
Worry: Do We Have A Choice?
As Montaigne said, "he who fears he will suffer, already suffers because of his fears." We pay a huge cost for worrying, physically, mentally and emotionally; yet research shows that it affects most of us in some way. So what is it? From its original meaning of 'to strangle', worry has evolved over the centuries to our modern definition 'mental distress or agitation, resulting from concern, usually from something impending or anticipated'. It is constantly dwelling on and evaluati...(related: Stress Management)
3 Kinds Of Workplace Stress
Workers across America will tell you that stresslevels are increasing. The demand for anti-depressants is up. Doctor's visits areincreasing. Stress-related ailments are shootingup like a rocket.There are many stressors behind all theseproblems, but the gurus generally classify thestress itself into three categories.Understanding the major types is the first step tocontrolling stress and improving productivity.1. Acute Stress. This kind of stress is causedby recent events. It is significant buttemporary. Small doses can result in positivereactions: the adrenalin rush and feelings ofelation can motivate achievement. Too much, toooften results in headaches, backaches, ...(related: Stress Management)
Stress Management
The fast pace of life is taking toll on every city dweller, right from students to home makers and workers to managers, every body is hit by the bug of the stress. ...(related: Stress Management)
Quick Steps On Handling Stress
Looking for some quick stress relief?Edward W. Smith, motivational speaker, author and TV show host, who specializes in quick tips on how to move your life ahead even faster, offers the following advice.It is helpful to understand that significant stress reduction can occur in minutes, you do not even have to leave the place where the stress is occuring.First, as soon as you feel stresses coming just say "...(related: Stress Management)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder - Do You Worry All The Time?
Do you worry all the time?Do the following symptoms bother you?**I never stop worrying about things big and small.<...(related: Stress Management)
Turn Your Stress Into Success!
Stress is often seen as being unhealthy, but for some it is the very key to their success.What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the...(related: Stress Management)
Stress: Daily Self-care Habits To Manage Stress
Today we have more stress in our lives than ever before ? good stress, bad stress, red stress, blue stress (my little ode to Dr. Seuss). No matter what kind of stress it is, a real crisis or an imagined one, stress is incredibly harmful to our body, mind and soul.<...(related: Stress Management)
5 Steps To Make Stress Your Best Friend
You probably think I'm wacko, but it's true - stress can be your best friend! Stress is actually a positive experience to be channeled to improve your life.For instance, let me tell you about a small moment of stress I faced a few minutes ago.Just before I boarded my flight from Phoenix to Seattle, I was talking to my husband Wade on my cell phone. Toward the end of our conversation, he told me how someone had commented on how the kids are dressed better when I'm around.Now, I already know some of the things he's taken the kids to church in.....YIKES!But, then he proceeds to tell me how Maegan had syrup in her hair, and it was all tangled, and he couldn't brush it out; so he took her over to the ba...(related: Stress Management)
Stress Management: 4 Steps To Massive Stress Relief By Having Fun
Over the years I've collected scores of comics and cartoons about marriage, families, stress and change. There is just something about a good comic strip that c...(related: Stress Management)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved. | Stress Management