It can add to the stress of an anxious caregiver to think that they might be transmitting their stress to their children, as it is often said that children absorb their caregivers’ emotions.
In a new series of resources, the Child Mind Institute suggests that the way to keep from passing anxiety on to children isn’t to try to be perfect or project calm no matter what you’re feeling, but to let them see you managing stress in a healthy way.
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The resources explore a set of techniques that caregivers and children - or teachers and students - can use to calm down together known as co-regulation. There is also a piece on using mindfulness, which might look like a simple breathing exercise or just taking a beat to check in with your body and slow down.
There is also guidance on what to do if you’re parenting through depression, especially if it is affecting the relationship with your child. Lastly, the resources include a Thriving Kids podcast episode in which experts answer questions about dealing with specific stressors for parents, children, and teens.
The resources include: