School started just around the corner; for me, it had started a couple weeks ago, and I have some clients that started this week and next week. I thought I would talk about how we can reduce the anxiety our kids feel. How do we reduce that overwhelm, or find ways that we could actually improve their success at school? How many of us out there are constantly yelling or talking in a stern voice like, “Come on, we gotta go. You don’t have time to go get your water bottle. You should have put your lunch in your lunchbox already. No, you can’t wear that top to school.” It’s constant picking in the morning, and is that really how we want to start our day? Is this really going to help our kids not feel that rush, that anxiety, that overwhelm?
Some of the tips that I’m going to give you today will actually help you reduce that, so you don’t have these crazy mornings. We’re not getting their brains so discombobulated in the morning; we’re actually helping them start their day off right. How do we set them up to win? Anxiety is the fear of the unknown. They’re going back to school; it’s the first day. They’re wondering, “Am I wearing the right thing? What are people going to think about me? I wonder who’s in my class? I wonder if I’m going to fit in? Am I going to belong? Is this year going to be just like last year? I wonder what this year can be like today?” There are so many what-ifs going on in their heads, but if we can do some of these simple tips, we can eliminate that anxiety. We can give them the certainty that they need to feel great in their day.
Some of the things that I would invite you to do first of all are to get a schedule. What is their schedule going to look like? For me personally, when my husband travels and I’m having to take care of the kids and take care of my work, I know that in order to set them up to win in the morning, I need to set them up at night. We get their school uniforms out, I make their lunch, and we talk about what time we’re going to get up in the morning and what the morning is going to look like. I get their vitamins and stuff ready for them in the morning. Everything is organized that morning, so really all they have to do is get up. When I wake them up, I’m always waking them up with gratitude. What are we grateful for? We’re grateful for opening our eyes again and for taking that breath today, and it’s interesting because my kids love it. They always say, “Mom, can you please wake me up with those prayers again and that gratitude?” It’s such a heartwarming feeling when my kids ask for that.
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