Our new Kindy Program, Relax Kids, is a hit with children and Educators alike – and no wonder! It’s making everybody feel so good!
Relax Kids uses a unique 7-step method, which is based on clinically-proven stress management techniques, incorporating treatments such as therapeutic exercise and yoga, breathing exercises, and mindfulness exercises. The objective is to teach children to use physical actions to calm and control their minds.
The science behind the fun
Stress responses originate from one of the most primitive parts of the brain, the hypothalamus. In situations of real danger, this response is useful - but when we're experiencing this chemical rush day in, day out, it can leave us feeling very worn-down and unhappy.
Experiencing chronic stress during childhood can have a negative effect on children’s' emotional, social, and academic development, and their future health. In the long term, stress can cause other mental health issues such as anger, depression and anxiety disorders. These conditions are often comorbid with other conditions such as bipolar disorder and ADHD.
The Relax Kids program teaches children easy-to-do techniques that pack a lot of punch in treating and mitigating stress and related conditions. The seven steps are:
Move and Play - Physical exercise has been proven to help manage symptoms of stress. Intense exercise may also help children to let off steam and reduce feelings of tension and anger.
Stretch - This stage involves simple, yoga-like stretches. Yoga has been proven to help reduce stress and depression symptoms. Simplified stretches maintain the physicality of the first two steps while promoting focus, balance, and calm and beginning to take the children's energy levels down.
Feel - Consensual, clothed and supervised peer or self-massage promotes positive touch, which decreases stress hormone levels and increases “happy hormone' levels.
Breathe - Controlled and deep breathing exercises promote calmness and focus. This helps calm the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts stress responses, and can help with finding a solution to moments of stress and anxiety.
Believe - Positive affirmations on either a one-to-one or group basis help to promote good self-esteem and confidence, and have been demonstrated to counteract the effects of chronic stress, and can also benefit children who have may self-esteem issues linked to depression.
Relax - Guided meditations allow the mind to focus quietly on emotions and thoughts, after which they can be better understood and dealt with, helping the children cope with and understand feelings of stress and anxiety. Relax Kid’s guided meditations feature mindfulness and visualization techniques which have been proven to have a positive effect on a wide range of emotional and stress-related disorders.
Relax Kids' strategies can be used as anger management tools, ways to help at moments of meltdown, or methods to make time-outs constructive rather than punitive. Our children are enjoying the sessions, and our Educators can see the immediate beneficial effects. Relax Kids will continue throughout the year, and is a great example of the enriched learning program that your child will enjoy at Skippy’s.
For more information, visit the Relax Kids website: https://www.relaxkids.com/