One thing that can be super challenging is figuring out how to calm down an upset child. I thought this would be a good place to share one technique that has worked for me as a teacher.
At circle time, I get the children to imagine something tasty cooking or baking in the oven. It could be cookies or cake or pie or even chicken. Then we smell the baking as we breathe in through our nose and blow on the baking to cool it down. We do this three times, effectively taking three deep breaths. I use it as a stress reducer and it seems to work.
What I love about co-op preschool is I get to share these techniques with parents and sometimes parents decide to try them at home. Here is a story from a parent who tried this technique at home with success!
He was having a meltdown this morning and I decided to try your unique method of calming his breathing. I took a pretend cookie out of the oven, smelled it, blew on it to cool it down and then ate it. I keep repeating until his breathing synced up with mine and his rage face softened to calm and even laughing. I want to thank you for demonstrating a creative way to help my child calm down. The only draw back was that we then had to bake real cookies. They were delicious.
Yay! I just love it when techniques like this work. We all need strategies to help calm down from time to time. Stress is a real part of life. Kids have stress too.
