Author: Beth Trammell

Summer 2022 – Mini Virtual Parenting Sessions on topics that matter

Summer 2022 – Mini Virtual Parenting Sessions on topics that matter

Although I haven’t been writing as much on here, I have DEFINITELY been working on new ways to connect with you! Mostly, I’ve been working on creating awesome content for my two podcasts – Kids These Days need us to Make Words Matter for good  

Tips for teens and anxiety (S2E11: Kids These days podcast)

Tips for teens and anxiety (S2E11: Kids These days podcast)

Click here for Word document with flyer   – Flyer for anxiety

BrainDance Movement ideas! (S2E10  Kids These Days… podcast!)

BrainDance Movement ideas! (S2E10 Kids These Days… podcast!)

Depression in our kids and teens.

Depression in our kids and teens.

Recently, on the Kids These Days… podcast, we discussed Depression in Kids and Teens (S2E9). I hope you get a chance to check it out!  Below is the image that goes with that! To download PDF – click here: Depression Handout

When emotions get intense, stay C.A.L.M.

When emotions get intense, stay C.A.L.M.

These last 10 months have been riddled with emotional highs and lows. It feels like we have been all over the map with our emotions (and our kids’ emotions!). This post aims to share some helpful hints to remain CALM amidst the chaos of high emotions.

C – Catch your breath

A – Adjust your face

L – Lean in

M – Make it meaningful

Let’s start by exploring each of these in more depth and realizing how each step allows the emotion of the moment to have space, while not encouraging it to grow out of control (which is what I find most people are MOST afraid of when they talk about or experience emotions).

We need not be afraid of emotions! Rather, once you realize how to work through big emotions effectively, the more you will welcome their presence in your life and the lives of your kids.

Catch your breath

I believe the very best thing you can do for your body when you are amidst high emotions is to BREATH. Taking big, deep breaths is one of the easiest ways to regulate your body as it responds to the emotion around you. There are a number of different breathing techniques you can try. Keep in mind, if one doesn’t work, keep trying. Don’t give up. Continued deep breathing will bring your body back down from a neurobiology standpoint.

Here are a few tips for deep breathing:

  • Try taking a deep breath through your nose and out your mouth. Aim to FILL your lungs with air. Breathe deeper than you typically do and notice your chest and belly rising as you extend your breath further than you typically do. Try this 3 or 4 or 5 times and notice how you feel.
  • Square breathing is another technique that has an additional visual that I think is helpful when we are experiencing high emotions. It involves creating an imaginary box with your breath. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it for four seconds, release the breath for four seconds and then hold for four seconds. I like to envision an actual box as I am engaging in this exercise. For more, you can explore this website: Box Breathing: Techniques, Benefits, GIF, and More (healthline.com).
  • Remember that breathing like this requires practice! Our typical breaths are not long and deep. So know that as you practice more and more, it will feel more comfortable and natural.
  • Breathing interventions like this are best done in BOTH in-the-moment settings and during other settings. In other words, practice breathing like this even when you aren’t in the midst of chaotic emotions. This will make it easier to come back to these exercises when you are in the middle of them.

Adjust your face

This part is all about your non-verbal communication during emotional moments. And specifically your facial expressions.  I have a VERY expressive face. And I didn’t realize HOW much it impacted others until my supervisor in graduate school reminded me over and over that I had to keep a neutral face if I was going to be a good therapist.  I literally had NO idea that my face was doing any of the things he was telling me it was. And I learned over and over again how my often doesn’t really show how I am truly feeling – leaving lots of difficulties interpersonally.

I believe the lack of realization of how our facial expressions impact other people is widespread. I believe many of us don’t realize how our face might ignite further reactions from our kids or the people around us.

The very best way to realize your facial expressions is to check out your own reactions in a mirror. I know this might feel weird, but truly, until you can see how your eyebrows arch or your mouth turns down or your eyes narrow slightly with various emotions, you will not be able to adjust your face to the moment at hand. Take a few minutes to stand in front of the mirror and practice a few different emotions and see what your face does!

The other way you can adjust your face is to ask a trusted friend or partner to give you interpersonal feedback. So imagine the face you would make with various emotions. What would your face do when you are angry? Make that face and ask your friend…”what does my face say to you?” Switch emotions and try other facial expressions while asking your partner that question. Your kids and teens may also be great at helping with this!

Lean in

Many of us are uncomfortable with discussion emotion.  We might be even more uncomfortable when showing emotion. But if we have someone in our lives who is willing to be vulnerable with their emotions, it is critical that we LEAN IN and engage in the moment with them. Think about it. We’ve all had the experience where a person nearby quickly shuts down our emotion. Or they tell us we are being “dramatic”. Or to “stop crying”.  Most of us walk away from that experience feeling unheard, unvalued, and certainly not realizing that talking about how I feel in the future is a good idea.

The people around us need us to lean in. They need us to engage. Put our cell phones down. Turn off the television. Look at them and listen intently to what they feel. Don’t be afraid.

Make it meaningful

The last step to staying CALM is to make it meaningful for you and the other person. This is best done with great listening skills and empathy sharing.  Great listening involves allowing the other person to speak, truly staying focused on what they are saying and not saying, and using non-verbal gestures to keep the person knowing you are listening. Great listeners PRACTICE. Listening is a skill to be learned, practiced, and re-learned in new relationships. Just because you are a good listener to your kids, doesn’t mean you are a good listener to your friends or partner or supervisor. Be in continual reflection about your listening skills and ask others for feedback about your listening to learn for the future!

 

I hope this provides you with some things to consider as you manage big emotions from people around you! I would love to hear from you if you have feedback!

Podcast Episode: Catching big dreams with Jennifer Stanley

Podcast Episode: Catching big dreams with Jennifer Stanley

This episode, my friend, Jennifer Stanley, joins me as we talk about dream catching, goal setting and the 3 things to achieve your goals in 2021. This time of year is the perfect time to think through and strategize to better capture all those dreams 

Goal Setting with TEENS, KIDS, and LITTLES

Goal Setting with TEENS, KIDS, and LITTLES

Here you will find a quick video sharing tips and tricks for helping our kids (at all stages!) with setting goals this new year! Would love to hear your feedback on how it goes!!  

Ask the Expert: How parents can help their children through a pandemic holiday season

Ask the Expert: How parents can help their children through a pandemic holiday season

An article written by April Toler from Indiana University

Ask the Expert: How parents can help their children through a pandemic holiday season: News at IU: Indiana University

The holiday season is typically filled with family gatherings and once-a-year activities. For children, that means seeing grandparents and extended family members, visiting Santa Claus and attending community events such as tree-lighting ceremonies.

But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, extended family members are encouraged not to gather, Santa Claus will be seen from a distance, and many events are canceled.

How can parents and caregivers help children understand these changes while still enjoying the holiday season? Beth Trammell, a licensed psychologist, parenting researcher and associate professor of psychology at Indiana University East in Richmond, provided a few tips on keeping the joy in this strange holiday season.

“There is no doubt this holiday season is going to be a tough one for many families,” Trammell said. “For many children, those changes can be hard to understand. But there are little things we can do to help our youngest family members enjoy the holiday season while staying safe.”

First, Trammell said, do not underestimate the impact of pandemic fatigue. Many Americans are emotionally and physically tired, and that includes children. Keep in mind that negative behaviors are often the result of, and indicative of, kids’ level of overwhelming fatigue, she said.

Additionally, children might feel grief or loss over missing out on traditions, possibly leading them to negatively react, which might look like overreacting in an adult’s mind.

“Have patience and try to listen intently and empathize, rather than simply see it as them being dramatic or overreacting,” Trammell said. “If it matters to them, allow it to matter to us, even if only briefly. Try not to perceive them as a ‘brat’ or ‘ungrateful.’ Rather, just remind yourself that these things do matter deeply to them, and allow space for them to share those big feelings with you.”

Instead of focusing on what will not happen this year, Trammell suggests parents keep the focus on what can happen. Create new traditions and make the activities you can do together special. Approach the holidays with excitement and a positive outlook, she said, and your children will follow your lead.

In the end, Trammell said, parents’ presence will always matter more, in the long run, than the things we buy for children.

This doesn’t mean that kids don’t desperately want that new video game or that they won’t beg for a new phone. But the individualized presence we can extend to them will go further than anything else in developing our relationship with them, Trammell said.

“Memories and new traditions can be made to help minimize the struggle of missing certain things this holiday season,” she said. “Families should document new traditions –with a photo book or scrapbook or storybook — so your kids can come back to those memories and remember them happily.”

Finally, Trammell said she is reminded that, if she stays focused on the things that really matter — perhaps even journaling about them or writing small reminders — it makes it a bit easier to let the other things go as the pandemic goes on.

“I encourage all of us, parents or not, to just try to always stay grounded in those things that really matter,” she said. “Practicing gratitude and positivity is always important and definitely will be important as we enter into this new holiday season.”

April Toler is the senior associate director of research communications in the Indiana University Office of the Vice President for Research.

Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels

Developing healthy consumption of technology

Developing healthy consumption of technology

I don’t know how yall are doing, but I know I have been feeling more and more self-inflicted pressures to minimize my kids’ screen time. And as my kids get older, I am finding myself being more and more interested in learning ways to help