PLAYGROUND
Here’s how parents help their children ease back into the school year with less stress.
Mindfulness expert Julie Potiker – author of Life Falls Apart, but You Don’t Have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm In the Midst of Chaos – shares a simple acronym parents can share with their kids to help them create more peace and less anxiety in their back-to-school experience.
Kids: Be Your Best Back-to-School Self with R.A.I.N.
From summertime FOMO (fear of missing out) as they saw social media posts with friends that didn’t include them, to being forced to deal with online drama or bullying in real life, kids can have serious worry and anxiety about returning to the classroom and their group of peers.
Mindfulness expert Julie Potiker offers this simple acronym as a helpful reminder that students can use to pause, take a step back from their overwhelming feelings, and initiate self-care to help themselves feel better.
R.A.I.N.
- R = Recognize your feeling and name it (i.e., “I’m feeling frustrated. I feel upset. I feel scared. I feel angry.”).
- A = Allow your feeling to be there without judging it.
- I = Investigate gently with curiosity why this feeling is there.
- N = Nourish yourself. What do you need to give yourself or hear or do right now to make yourself feel better?
“Stepping back for a moment from what you’re feeling to observe it instead of being stuck in it can help you get through even the most stressful moments,” Julie says.
BONUS: Change the channel by popping in a positive mental state from a memory. Really feel that goodness for a breath or two to transform it from a mental state to a neural trait. “Rewire your brain for more happiness and resilience,” says Julie.
Check out Julie’s website: www.MindfulMethodsForLife.com
About Julie Potiker: Author and mindfulness expert Julie Potiker is an attorney who began her serious study and investigation of mindfulness after graduating from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of California, San Diego. She went on to study with Rick Hanson, becoming a graduate of his Positive Neuroplasticity Training Professional Course. Potiker also completed Brené Brown’s Living Brave Semester. Now, she shares these and other mindfulness techniques with the world through her Mindful Methods for Life trainings and her new book: Life Falls Apart, but You Don’t Have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm In the Midst of Chaos.
Maddy Zollo