Tools for Success: Brain Breaks and Mindfulness Activities

Consider the phrase “don’t cry over spilled milk”. More likely than not, you have heard, and probably even used, this phrase throughout your life. By now, you know that the phrase is used to encourage others not to worry about situations they cannot change. In a simple form, the intent of the phrase is to help others regulate their emotions and develop emotional intelligence. And while it can successfully accomplish those goals, most children need more than a saying to regulate their emotions when they are overstimulated or emotionally dysregulated. Telling children how to do something and showing them how to do something are two completely different concepts. Just think- would you expect a child to know how to hold, and read, a book without showing them? 

There are simple, yet powerful, ways to practice emotional wellbeing with your child at home. The frequency and timing of these activities will depend on the skills that your child already has. Some children may need to practice these strategies during homework help while others may need help managing their big emotions as they arise. Whatever the context, these specific strategies will build the foundational skills your child needs to regulate their emotions with more independence:

Brain breaks and mindfulness activities are excellent opportunities to help keep children motivated, focused, and ready to learn. Most successful brain breaks are planned or used as a strategy when children have an inability to focus due to emotional dysregulation. Depending on your child’s needs and interests, brain breaks can include movement, mindfulness, or educational content. Here are a few examples of how they can be implemented at home:

• Timed intervals: Set a timer while your child is working on a long, or complex, task. When the timer goes off, have your child pause when they have reached a good stopping point. 

• Quantities: Set work-related goal with your child. Goals can range from smaller to larger chunks such as a number of problems, a complete assignment, or part of a project.

• Dysregulation: Use brain breaks and mindfulness activities to rebalance your child’s emotions if they become dysregulated, extremely fatigued, or unmotivated while working.

• Reinforce content with educational videos, or music. Let children reflect and practice mindfulness through a series of written or auditory prompts.

Here is a list of activities your child may enjoy:

• Go Noodle: A free resource with a variety of brain breaks, exercises, and mindfulness

• Cosmic Kids Yoga: A Youtube series with various Yoga tutorials

• Mindfulness Coloring Books, or free printable pages

• Youtube Freeze Dances: Coach Corey Martin, P.E. with Mr. G, or Matthew Wood with movement inspired activities

• BrightenUp! Kids: Free yoga, mindfulness, affirmations, and reflection tutorials with themes like Shake Off Those Icky Feelings and Butterfly Hug

• Educational games, puzzles, or strategy games for brain breaks and skill practice

• Creativity exploration: directed drawings, musical lessons, journaling, nature walks/5 senses writing, painting, or listening to music

Utilizing structured brain breaks during extended work sessions (i.e homework, cleaning, after school activities) can successfully help children regain focus and apply their best effort. By teaching these strategies at home, you are providing students with tools they can learn to implement independently when they are feeling dysregulated. Whether they’ve quite literally “spilled milk”, are fatigued at the end of a long day, or are struggling to focus, brain breaks are like a mini “reset” button that could provide clarity. 

Written by Ami Z.

Strategies to Help Children Navigate Big Feelings

Stress, anxiety, frustration, restlessness, anger, jealousy, sadness, fear, and guilt—what do all of these have in common? They make up some of those BIG feelings children commonly experience as they grow into adolescence. As parents, witnessing your children moving through these big emotions can lead to some pretty intense feelings for you as well! So, what can be done to help when big feelings arise? This blog highlights strategies children can use to become more emotionally aware and provides tools they can add to their emotional regulation toolkits!

The Building Blocks of Emotional Awareness

Before diving into strategies for managing big emotions, it is first imperative to develop an awareness of what those emotions actually are, when they strike, and how each individual reacts to them. Even at a young age, there are ways to begin to strengthen the awareness of one’s emotions.

Visual prompts offer a great opportunity for children to name their feelings as they begin to become more emotionally aware. Feeling face charts can help children connect the way they feel to the proper word to describe it. Once a child can actually name what they are feeling, they will be more empowered to communicate their big emotions that arise, and you as the parent will be better able to help them!

Books and movies can be another tool to assist children in understanding what their big feelings are. Inside Out is an excellent Pixar movie that turns emotions into characters. Books like In My Heart: A Book of Feelings also help represent and describe the many feelings humans go through! There are also some great social media accounts, one example being Big Little Feelings, that aim to empower parents to help their children navigate all of their emotions.

When your child is going through a big feeling, help them to name the feeling, and be sure to validate it. Children need to know that all emotions are okay to feel and have a sense of security in doing so. Once this groundwork is laid, your focus can shift toward helpful strategies to manage these emotions!

Coping Mechanisms: Creating an Emotional Regulation Toolkit

Once your child has a better understanding of their emotions, they can then start to build a personal toolkit of ways to cope with these feelings. Remember, each child is different, and what works for one kid may not work as well for another. Below are some starting points to try out!

Mindfulness and breath work can be extremely powerful tools to use when stress, frustration, and anger come around. These practices encourage more self-awareness in times of calmness, so that whenever big emotions arise they can be of help! Check out our previous blog titled “Stress-Free Ways to Incorporate Breath Work into Kids’ Daily Lives” for specific ways to integrate breath work into your children’s day.

Exercise may be one of the most effective ways to deal with emotions when they get big and scary. Movement, in whatever form your child prefers, will allow them to clear their heads enough to be able to circle back and more gracefully deal with their feelings. Going for a run or walk, having a dance party to some favorite tunes, biking, playing a sport, or spending time in nature are all ways to get the body moving!

It is also important to cultivate some emotional outlets with these strategies. A Calm Down Kit is a physical bag or basket with items that nurture the senses and help calm the nervous system. Read our previous blog called Creating the Ultimate Calm Down Kit: Using the Five Senses to Reset and Regulate to learn how to create your own. Allowing space for creativity can also be of use. Drawing, painting, dancing, singing, creative writing, and journaling are all great creative outlets to help process big emotions strike! We also have a blog titled Encouraging Children to Find their Voice Through Journaling with tips to help jumpstart journaling.

There is no single “best” way to deal with all of the big emotions children will inherently encounter as they grow, but through communication, practice, and trial and error, you and your child can work together to create a personalized set of strategies and tools to maneuver all of life’s twists and turns.

Written by Laine J.

Cultivating Balance: Strategies for Students to Avoid the Hustle and Embrace Intentional Living

The hustle culture narrative in our modern day society suggests that success can only be attained by working long, exhaustive hours, and that burnout and stress are a ‘normal’ consequence. With the rise in social media influencing and tendency for everyone to play the comparison game, hustle culture has become a pervasive aspect in our lives. While it deeply impacts our adult population, the effects certainly trickle down to students and can have damaging effects, like anxiety, disengagement, and guilt. Working hard is important, BUT not at the expense of health and wellbeing. Students must find opportunities between the constant "go, go, go" to slow down, unwind, and hone in on what is important each day. This blog dives into some simple methods you can use with your kids to introduce a healthy school/life balance, move through overwhelming feelings, and escape the clutches of the "hustle."

Set Boundaries

As your students moves through elementary and secondary school, part of your role as a parent is to help guide them on what they can take on within and outside of school. It has become increasingly popular for kids to "overload" their plate with AP classes, volunteering, and multiple extracurricular activities. Add in a robust social life, and this can be a recipe for stress, anxiety, and burnout. Work with your child to set a realistic goal of what classes they can take and how many activities they can manage in their schedule. It may help to create a visual weekly calendar with all of their commitments so they can see just how much free time they will end up having. Our past blog also details some tips and tricks on how to best structure a balanced after-school routine.

Encourage Self-Reflection

When life is moving at a far too rapid pace, there isn't really time to stop and reflect. Self-reflection is important because it offers an opportunity to reprioritize, learn and grow. Pick a time once a week for your child to journal about their feelings regarding daily responsibilities, academics, social life, and more. If journaling isn't their style, encourage a few minutes at the end of each week to have them check in with you instead. Questions like "Was there anything you felt particularly worried about this week?" or "What is your number one stressor right now?" may help you and your child start to identify areas that are weighing on them more heavily than others, and thus allow you to make some changes or set some boundaries to alleviate some of that stress.

Utilize Mindfulness Practices

One key aspect of avoiding negative effects of stress is to simply notice when it creeps up and practice some self-regulation techniques when it does. Getting into the habit of a daily mindfulness practice allows students to witness their thoughts, emotions, and feelings on a consistent basis. Mindfulness practices, like breath work, yoga, and meditation, also aid in living each day with more intention and less stress. In our past blog, we go over some tools to use with kids of any age when stress gets high! At Peak Academics, we also offer an integrative service that combines traditional academic tutoring with coaching in self-regulation practices.

Incorporate Downtime

In a society that often "praises" the hustle, it is easy to feel guilty or lazy for taking some time for yourself. However, burnout can greatly affect creativity, mindset, and intrinsic motivation. While some students have no issue finding joy in downtime, others may find it difficult to set aside their responsibilities for time to relax and reset. If your child falls in the latter category, sit down with them each week and try to schedule in a time for rest and relaxation where all other responsibilities can wait, even if just for a bit! In a recent blog, we discuss the importance of incorporating downtime into a daily or weekly routine and some methods to do so.

In a culture of near-constant busyness, setting boundaries, encouraging self-reflection, utilizing mindfulness practices, and incorporating downtime into our lives are all essential components of achieving a balanced and healthier approach to life and education. It is not about abandoning hard work but rather redefining it, emphasizing the importance of self-care, and finding a more intentional and sustainable way to navigate the challenges of our modern world.

Written by: Laine J.

Stress-Free Ways to Incorporate Breath Work into Kids' Daily Lives

Learning practical self regulation tools while young equips kids to manage big emotions and stressful situations throughout their entire life. Deep breathing is one of the easiest, most effective tools that kids can use to self regulate. Breathing exercises activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that controls reactions to stress. These exercises help relax the body, refocus the mind and reduce anxiety. Teaching your kids deep breathing exercises in an intentional, personalized manner will encourage the daily use and auto-retrieval when stress gets high.

Teach the concept in a calm moment

When emotions are running high, kids’ brains are not in a state to learn a new self-regulation tool. Teaching breath work during calm moments allows children to receive the information in a positive, relaxed manner. The more they practice breathing exercises while they are calm, the higher the chance they will pull on these tools when they are experiencing big feelings of anger, sadness or worry.

Model deep breathing during stressful times

Modeling deep breathing can be a great way to demonstrate how and when to use a relaxation technique. If you, as a parent, are experiencing a big emotion, you can talk through your process of calming down out loud and incorporate breath work. One example might be, “I’m feeling so frustrated right now because traffic is moving so slowly. I’m going to try to relax and take 5 deep belly breaths while I wait at this red light.” You might find that your children begin to breathe with you as you model the behavior.

Use Visual Cues around your home

Sprinkling visual cues around your home helps teach and remind kids about breathing techniques. You can hang a breathing chart on the refrigerator or place a custom deck of mindfulness cards on your kids’ desks. There are even tasteful pieces of art you can display in your family room that subtly reinforce the importance of deep breathing. Simple daily reminders will signal your children’s brains and remind them about the tools they can use for self regulation.

Find ways to make it Enjoyable

Kids of all ages enjoy learning new breathing practices in a fun way. Little ones love to use their imagination and more willingly participate in activities with motivators, like bubbles or stuffed animals. Older kids appreciate the use of scents, such as essential oils or flowers, and guided meditations with themes of interest.

Create a daily routine

One of the best ways to normalize the concept of deep breathing is to create a family routine. Every morning before breakfast or each night at bedtime, you can share a mindful minute with a deep breathing exercise. Find a moment in your family’s schedule that feels natural and manageable and hold it as a sacred practice. This can be a bonding experience and help to create a peaceful home.

Written by Krista G.

Encouraging Children to Find Their Voice through Journaling

Guiding our children in finding their unique voice is one of the most important jobs we have as parents. This helps kids build self-esteem and confidence. Of course, there are many ways to encourage voice throughout daily life, but in this blog we focus in on using journal writing as a method for kids to find their voice. The process of writing itself is unique, in that it forces a thoughtful and slower-processing of feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Giving your child a journal is a great way to allow them to experience this. Ultimately, a consistent journal writing practice can help children find their own unique, creative voice in a space free of judgement or rules. Through writing, they can learn to dream, goal set, work through internal conflicts, and become a more assertive and confident individual. Here are some considerations to make when introducing journal writing to your child:

Include Them

Planning a special outing for your child to shop for journaling supplies will add a layer of excitement! You can encourage them to pick out a journal that speaks to them and inspires them to write. You can also invite them to pick out a special pack of colored pens and some items to add creative flair, such as stickers, to make it an enjoyable process.

Keep it Stress Free

We do not want the idea of journal writing to become “just another homework assignment.” Work together to come up with how and when your child will use their journal so that it fits into their daily or weekly schedule and is something that brings them joy. Please remember, journal writing is a safe space for children to be FREE from the rules of spelling and punctuation. It should also be a personal experience for them, not one with you. When your child is able to feel free from stress, more fluency in their writing will follow.

Use Prompts

Children often find it difficult to look down at a blank page and just begin pouring out their deepest thoughts and emotions. Prompts can be a powerful tool in helping your child begin to process their thoughts and find their voice on paper. Using prompts that are written in first person enables the writer to connect more easily with the questions. Here are ten prompts that might be particularly beneficial for your children to use in their initial journal writing:

1. What makes people happy? Which of those things makes me happy?

2. What job would I like to have as an adult and why?

3. How do I know if someone is a good friend to me?

4. What is something I would like to get better at and why?

5. Who is my hero and why?

6. What is my favorite ___________ (insert any noun, place, food, etc. here) and why?

7. What do I love about my family?

8. What has been the happiest day of my life and why?

9. Who is my favorite character (books, TV, movie, etc.) and why?

10. What would my dream vacation entail and why?

Highlight Your Child’s Unique Passions

Here is an activity that might help your child uncover their unique likes and dislikes. Have them share their values by first listing ideas like, “I love it when…”; “I dislike when…”; “I feel sad when…,” etc. Then try to help them match these values to an emotional need. For example, if they wrote “I dislike when I can’t play outside” you could match this to an emotional need of being outdoors. Eventually your child will get more accustomed to expressing these needs verbally. This activity can help your child understand their emotional needs and come closer to finding their own voice in the world.

Writing can be such a powerful tool to highlight one’s unique perspective of the world. You can promote the practice of journaling in your child’s routine and allow them to explore, dream, work and play in a way only possible through writing.

Written by Laine J.

Creating the Ultimate Calm Down Kit: Using the Five Senses to Reset and Regulate

What is a calm down kit you ask? Well, a calm down kit is a tool that can be used to help children self-regulate, center themselves, and reset. Building a calm down kit does not have to be expensive or complicated. You and your child can create a simple and effective calm down kit by focusing on items that engage with the five senses. So, grab a basket, box or bag and let’s begin to curate the ultimate calm down kit!

Below are some ideas for items or activities that your child might enjoy placing in their calm down kit that correlate with each of the five senses: Sight, Touch, Listen, Smell, and Taste.

Sight:

Items to add to your child’s calm down basket that will appeal to the visual senses might include:

-breathing exercise cards

-glitter jar or snow globe

-I Spy book

-family photo album

Touch

Below are some tools to help your child engage with the sense of touch:

-fidget toy, like a Pop-It

-palm or scalp massager

-putty or slime

-stress ball

-sensory bag or pillow

-Rubik’s cube

-soft and cozy blanket

-if younger, a favorite stuffed animal

Listen:

Items that will create a sense of calmness through listening might include:

-headphones to listen to a calming playlist

-rainstick

-sound machine

-music box

-chimes or gentle bells

Smell:

Aromatherapy is a great way to immediately trigger a sense of calm. Here are some objects you can add to your child’s calm kit to ignite the sense of smell:

-essential oils

-nature scents

-lotions

-scented markers

-scratch and sniff stickers

-candles

-diffusers

Taste:

It’s always nice for your child to have a little treat or something appealing to their sense of taste:

-dark chocolate

-mints or gum

-tea

-hard candy or lollipop

-favorite quick snack

Other Items to Include:

Some other items you may want to think about including in your child’s calm down basket might include:

-mindfulness coloring books

-yoga pose cards

-small puzzles or crossword books

-gratitude or regular journal

-bubbles

Depending on your child’s age and general self-regulation needs, invite them to select about 8-12 items to place in their calm basket to start. Objects can be swapped out monthly or seasonally. After selecting items for the kit, set some boundaries about when and how to use it. Your child should find a special place to put their calm down kit, ideally in a quiet and comfortable environment. A good time to use this kit is whenever they are feeling overwhelmed or frustrated or experiencing any other big emotion.

Calm down kits should be used for around 10-15 minutes per session as a quick brain and emotional reset. During this time your child should choose 2-3 items that they are drawn toward and that they feel will help them regulate their emotions and lift their mood.

A calm down kit is a simple and effective tool for social and emotional regulation that can be added to your house today! Here is an example of a calm basket shared on Peak’s Instagram account.

Written by Laine J.

Promoting Student Social and Emotional Wellbeing At Home

Social and emotional wellbeing is such a crucial aspect of student health. As children progress through school, assignments lengthen, activities increase and demands heighten. All of the sudden, your child can find themselves overwhelmed, stressed and struggling to keep up with a heavy workload and tight schedule of extracurricular activities. So, let’s talk about what social and emotional wellbeing is and how you as a parent can promote wellness at home despite all the demands of school and life.

Social and emotional wellness essentially comes down to an individual’s ability to create and foster relationships with others, make responsible decisions, and comprehend and cope with their emotions. One’s ability to develop a healthy and strong sense of identity, manage emotions, achieve personal and academic goals, and adapt to changing circumstances all rely heavily on their social and emotional wellness. Social and emotional wellness also strengthens one’s ability to create healthy boundaries, build a positive social network, navigate conflict, and encourage communication and trust. Clearly, social and emotional wellness is incredibly vital not only to academic performance, but also success throughout all of life’s challenges and twists and turns.

Research shows that when students are explicitly taught social and emotional learning skills and given opportunities for practice and reinforcement that they have better behavioral, social and academic outcomes. So, let’s go through a few simple ways you can encourage social and emotional wellbeing as a family at home:

Coping Skills

Help your child to come up with some self-affirmations that will foster self-confidence and resiliency. Self-affirmations might be phrases like “I can do this,” “I am enough,” or “I can do amazing things.” Another activity which encourages coping skills in students is a daily journaling practice. Reflecting upon the day's events for 5-10 minutes a day can help to achieve goals, track progress, inspire new ideas and build confidence.

Gratitude Practice

Create a gratitude journal that your child can fill out each day. If the idea of a journal is too daunting, try sitting down as a family at dinner, or at the end of the day, and have everyone say three things they are grateful for. Modeling this practice is very helpful for kids. It’s beneficial to have your child share specific people, places and experiences, as well as why they feel gratitude for each.

Self-Care Routine

Incorporating self-care practices into daily life helps to strengthen social and emotional wellness. Finding a way for your child to exercise lightly each day for 15-20 minutes is a great way to encourage self-care. Dancing, yoga, bike riding and a walk around the block are all simple ways to get daily movement in. Apart from exercise, you can encourage your child to create other enjoyable nighttime routines to unwind and relax, like taking a warm bubble bath, coloring mandalas or reading for pleasure!

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is one of the absolute best ways to increase focus and reduce stress. Compiling a list of breathing exercises your child can choose from when they need a break, like the Take 5 breathing, or practicing a daily mindful minute together as a family can be so powerful. Spending time as a family outside listening to the sounds of nature is another great mindfulness activity.

Connection

With our busy schedules, it can be difficult to find opportunities to come together as a family. Though it may be hard to find the time, it’s important to make the effort to connect as a family each day. Enjoying family dinners, baking cookies, playing board games or coming up with a special craft or day-trip can all be fabulous ways to connect.

Written by: Laine J.