Remember the murder hornets? Then the run on toilet paper. Hyperinflation. Insurrection and riots. Earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes. Who doesn’t feel anxiety when trying to maintain balance and control in your realm of influence while the world around you is spinning out of control? While you’re fears and anxieties are real and valid, you have one tool you can use to fight it–reason. It doesn’t always work but occasionally, you can take a deep breath, pause, reconnect to your physical space and evaluate your anxiety to better comprehend what is happening.
Do you know what skills your children are still trying to learn? Reasoning. They don’t have the same toolset of being able to work themselves out of a downward spiral. They hear us talking about murder hornets, tornados, supply chain collapses, and school shootings but may not have the ability yet to sort through their feelings, ground themselves in reality, and process what is happening. We have to help them through it. The first step in doing so is to simply listen. Ask your kids what things they’ve heard at school or on social media cause them to worry. Are they concerned about things that are happening throughout the world? Taking the time to talk helps them begin to sort through, reason, and process their difficult thoughts and emotions.