Oak Ridge Today

Five ways to foster resilience in young children

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By Marjorie Alcorn: Home Visitor Healthy Families Tennessee/Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee East Region

Resilience is defined as the ability to thrive, adapt and cope despite tough and stressful times. It’s a natural counterweight to negative events children experience commonly called adverse childhood experiences. The more a child learns to be resilient, the more likely they are to deal with negative experiences in a healthy way that won’t have unfavorable outcomes over their lifetime.

We aren’t born resilient. It’s actually a skill that can be taught, learned, and practiced. Every child has the ability to become resilient if surrounded by the right environments and people. As a parent or caregiver of young children, here are a few ways you can foster resilience in the little ones you love so much. [Read more…]

Guest column: Tips for managing family stress during the holidays

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Submitted by Susan Moore

Around this time of year, we start hearing phrases like “Give thanks” and “get into the Christmas spirit” everywhere we go. Just about every advertisement reminds us that the holidays are right around the corner. It is a festive time of year with plenty to do. There are parades, Black Friday sales, family get-togethers, good food, and gifts to buy.

But as the joy and excitement of the season spreads, stress and anxiety also increase. During the holiday season, we actually see an increase in child abuse attributed to the additional stresses on families.

At first this sounds surprising, but everyone, especially parents, can relate to the stress of setting aside money to purchase gifts for Christmas and food for Thanksgiving. With extra expenses and additional events piling up, parents are vulnerable to losing control of themselves in an attempt to release their stress. Instead of finding a healthy outlet for stress release, many parents take out their frustration on their children and use abusive discipline.

“Typically around this time of year we see the parent with a full plate losing it a little bit and hurting their children,” says Kristen Rector of Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee. “It’s not the out-of-control raging parent who usually abuses a child but the parent stressed out by the holiday expenses.” [Read more…]