13 Ways to Calm Your Child

Just don’t tell him, “Calm down!” There are much more fun and interesting activities: drink cocoa together from a warm clay mug, draw a butterfly, taking a piece of chalk in each hand, turn upside down, blow out a big beautiful candle the first time … These “tricks” are more like a game and therefore more effective than words . And by the way, they have a completely scientific basis.

A child can be nervous for various reasons. He is bored – nothing is happening around, or his physical energy does not find an outlet, or he is tired at the end of a long day, but cannot relax, or he is experiencing emotions and does not yet know how to cope with them.

Here are a few ways to soothe your baby and do it naturally and discreetly.

1. Warm drink

Drinking fragrant tea with herbs, or cocoa, or milk with a pinch of vanilla… Holding your favorite clay mug in your hands is so cozy and soothing. The whole body immediately becomes warm – as if someone is hugging from the inside. Start such a ritual with your child, and as soon as he becomes naughty, say: “Let’s have some tea with you?”

2. Bear hug

This very strong hug should last for a long time, more than 20 seconds. During this time, the child will feel your warmth, his body will remember the safe feelings of early childhood, and his immune system (and yours too) will begin to produce the hormone oxytocin, which reduces the harmful effects of stress.

3. “Push the wall”

A great way to get rid of stress when irritation overwhelms and does not find a way out. Invite the child to rest against the wall with both hands and push it with all his might. This is how we turn the energy of stress into muscle energy, and, as after any muscular effort, relaxation will come.

4. “Blow out the candle!”

Light a big beautiful candle. Have your child blow it out, but don’t hold the candle too close. Of course, any child, and even more angry, will do it with pleasure. Now light the candle again, but keep it still farther away. The child will take in more air and will blow with all his might.

Children think concretely and cannot always sort out their emotions.

The trick is this: to calm down, just take a few deep breaths. In addition, the living light of a burning candle is pleasing to the eye and soothes.

5. “Eater of fears”

Such funny soft animals are sold in stores, but you can sew them yourself. The “eater” should have a large wide mouth with a zipper: you can put a piece of paper with fear written on it or another child’s problem that worries the child and prevents him from falling asleep. Having swallowed it, the “fear eater” will close its mouth to the castle.

6. Tennis ball massage

An old physiotherapy trick. Works well when the child is naughty because he is bored – for example, on the road or when you have to wait in line for a long time.

Roll the ball over the child’s shoulders, neck and back muscles – these are the places where the body “stores” stress. This massage is just what you need when your baby needs a soft, unobtrusive touch the most.

7. “Crybaby came again?”

Children are concrete thinkers and can’t always sort out their emotions, so it’s very helpful to give them names.

We use the motor skills of the hands, hearing and vision at the same time, and this helps to get rid of tension.

Toddlers really like to drive away the bad Crybaby who came to the good girl. And this is much more correct than calling the child himself a crybaby.

8. “Music can” and “ocean in a bottle”

This wonderful invention will help distract the child. Plus, it’s easy to do it yourself.

Fill an oblong plastic jar with a variety of rustling items: cinnamon sticks, cloves, peas, and beans. The resulting “tool” can be shaken, listened to sounds, looked at like a kaleidoscope.

So we simultaneously use the motor skills of the hands, hearing and vision, and this helps to get rid of tension. You can make an “ocean in a bottle” by pouring several liquids of different densities into it and placing some kind of fun “float”. Children are simply mesmerized by these toys.

9. Jump High and… Slow

Challenge your child to a competition to see who can jump higher. And now – who will jump … more slowly. Who will jump the fastest? You again distracted the children and gave an outlet to their unspent physical energy.

10. Jump rope to music

This is entertainment for a boring autumn day, when the child slowly starts to whine. Put on fun music and invite him to tiptoe for two minutes, hitting exactly the rhythm, and not go astray.

11. “Little Monsters”

These cheerful orange monsters can be made from small balloons filled with starch, which pleasantly creaks and changes shape, and paint with your child. They can be thrown on the floor, “fighting monsters”, and even on the wall.

12. Both left and right

When walking with a child, give him two crayons, one in each hand, and ask him to draw a butterfly with both hands at the same time. It’s not so easy if you draw not parallel lines, but each wing with a separate hand, “in a mirror image”, so that your hands either move towards each other or diverge. Even adults don’t get it right away.

Yogis have long recognized the healing power of inverted postures.

On a long drive or while waiting in line at the clinic, have your child draw a simple, familiar object with their left hand to give a bored brain a job. This activity requires maximum concentration … and ends with laughter.

13. We stand on our hands, run on all fours

Yogis have long recognized the healing power of inverted postures, bringing the head (and mind) below the level of the heart. This has a positive effect on the autonomic nervous system, which controls our body’s response to stress. Kids love these exercises!

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