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| out the day. The woman's experience is the guiding principle here. |
| Stress and Children |
| With its focus on preventive medicine, holistic approaches to health can be helpful in many of the common problems of childhood. If conditions are brought under control during childhood, they can often be avoided entirely in adult life. Children have special needs and special plants address these needs, but the most important consideration is the importance of tender loving care. Children respond to love and caring in wonderful ways. So do adults, if they give themselves the chance! |
| Children are susceptible to a variety of stresses, usually characterized by the feeling of being overwhelmed or threatened by more pressures and demands than they can handle. What constitutes a source of stress varies among children. One child may be stressed by changes in his daily routine, moving to a new home, or by the birth of a sibling. These same events may strike another child as novel, enjoyable and she may even thrive on such stimulation. Children also differ in their resilience and in how long it takes them to bounce back after stressful life events. |
| Coping usually requires thinking through the alternatives at hand and trying to make the best of stressful circumstances. However, a preschooler's capacity to analyze and formulate strategic plans is very limited. Getting help is therefore highly dependent upon an adult recognizing warning signs in youngsters struggling with stress. Once the problem is identified, the adult can help by listening to the child's expressions concerning stressful events and situations and offering understanding, support, reassurance and abundant affection, holding and cuddling. Coping with stress is easier when the child has a sense of self-esteem, which parents can and should encourage, and when they |
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