Breathing exercises to control the nerves
There are many reasons for a child to feel nervous. A frustration with a bad result in a game, the feeling before an exam, a small conflict with a brother or a classmate. An issue that must be taken into account since the little ones do not know how to handle these emotions and this stress may end up master them and causing them to lose sleep or get involved in a fight.
In these cases breathing can help reduce this nervousness in the smallest. There are several exercises that can help children manage these situations and with which to avoid the problems arising from these peaks of stress in children.
Diaphragmatic breathing
As explained Anna Huget. Psychologist of the ADHD unit at the Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, the first step may be to teach how to manage the air through different games. A very interesting option is to make them blow the toys that generate bubbles thanks to the soapy water and the exhalation of the smallest ones. The mission is that the pomp is not broken, for which it will be necessary to blow in a specific way until achieving this objective.
Subsequently, it can be passed to exercises more specific, such as lying on the floor to perform the diaphragmatic breathing process. The little ones must learn how to fill their belly with air and then expel it. As you learn this technique, you should be introducing variations such as exhaling in three courses or breathing in several sessions.
When you finish these exercises you can ask them how they feel and if they have achieved relax. If so, they should be encouraged to repeat them the next time they feel the same and explain in what situations they can use them to master their nerves and make them learn to manage stress situations little by little. At the same time, these breaths are a good idea for when parents see their children too upset and take them to a corner to calm down and think.
Relaxation exercises for children
In addition to breathing there are other exercises that can help to reduce nerves and that are very beneficial for stress situations. Here are some of them:
- Jacobson's relaxation. This method is based on the contraction of muscles or muscle groups for a few seconds and then relaxes progressively.
- 'We are a balloon'. Once the breathing exercises have been taught, the children can be proposed to play a balloon. Parents will indicate when to inflate and when to deflate. When they are 'full of air' they can move with if they were actually floating.
- Count back. If the child shows symptoms of nervousness, they can be challenged. Give it a figure and ask them if they are able to count back until they reach zero.
- Sing a song. An interesting trick is to teach a song to the little ones that has a soft tone and a letter to remember in the moments of greatest nervousness, in this way they will forget those situations that caused them stress.
Damián Montero
