Teach Your Daughter These 3 Tips To Cope With Stress
Stress is something we all experience (often on a regular basis), and when the pressure gets to be too much, even the strongest person can crack. Part of being a healthy, functioning adult is to know how to manage stress. However, developing the coping skills necessary to do this certainly don’t come overnight, and young people in particular can struggle. As teens get older, they gain more and more responsibilities, and the pressure they feel can be overwhelming. Here are three things you can teach your daughter to help her cope with stress:
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- Mindfulness Sometimes we’re so flooded by intense emotions that we aren’t even fully aware of our feelings. When you can sense your daughter is feeling overwhelmed, encourage her to acknowledge what she’s experiencing. Simply breathing deeply and saying, “I’m feeling very stressed right now” can help. [pullquote]Teach your daughter through your words and your example what it means to take good care of herself. [/pullquote] d
- Self-Care We take care of a lot of things (our families, our schooling, our belongings), but it’s easy to neglect ourselves! Self-care means doing things to rejuvenate our bodies and spirits. It’s different for everyone and can include things like exercise, reading a book, or doing something else that you can enjoy. Teach your daughter through your words and your example what it means to take good care of herself.
d - Ask For Help Why is it that we often view getting help as a sign of weakness? Asking for help is a sign of great strength! When things get rough, maybe your daughter needs to talk some things out with you, with a trusted friend, or even with a therapist. Sometimes just having a listening ear to vent to can help relieve some of the stress. Help her to understand that she doesn’t have to do everything on her own.
As a mother and a counselor I see first hand how girls deal with stress….and it’s different for everyone. No two girls are alike and no two girls will handle stress identically. One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to “stay present” with your daughter during her stressful times. This means you let her know that you can tell she stressed and you care. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking you need to fix her problems. Actually, that is her job. As the mother of a teen girl your job is to love her and gently guide her (when she asks). It’s definitely tricky territory and if you make a mistake you can roll model self-compassion for her and let her know you feel as though you just pushed her away. Be authentic in all areas. As moms we make mistakes because parenting does not come with a handbook. Feel free to reach out to me for some one-on-one parent support 🙂
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Empowering Families By Strengthening Girls & Women
At Warrenton Women’s Counseling Center, we work with girls of all ages (teenagers, adult women, mothers, and daughters). Our work is done face-to-face, online or via phone. We would love to hear from you and help to empower you and/or your daughter. Women will the lead the change process in families and society.
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Michelle Kelley, LCSW is a licensed counselor and owner of Warrenton Women’s Counseling Center. We work with girls and women of all ages. Our motto is to empower families by strengthening girls and women. For more information, call (540) 316-6362 or email Michelle@WarrentonWomensCounselingCenter.com
