Hi everyone, it's Sam here. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Thursday.

Since I've spent many years teaching mindfulness and social emotional learning to children

and adolescents, I receive a lot of interesting questions about how to prepare children, mentally

and emotionally for school. Recently, I received a question from a parent asking about how

to empower their children with coping tools for when worry and anxiety are peaking. So here

are some tips to support you and the students in your life. And please keep in mind that

all of these tips are helpful for adults too.

Firstly, it's helpful to remind your child to take one day at a time. You can explain

how our bodies feel the effects of stressful and anxious thoughts as if we have to tackle

our worries all at once. Help them tap into an inner dialogue that's reassuring and calming.

They can remind themselves that they can only do one thing at a time and to trust that

when the time comes to confront a task or situation, that they'll have the inner resources

needed to do it. You can even help them come up with and rehearse some reassuring thoughts

like just one moment at a time. And I trust myself.

One mindfulness exercise that promotes relaxation is sending friendly wishes. You can ask your

child to think of someone that they find really easy to like or love and then imagine

sending that person kind wishes by saying things like, I hope you feel safe. I hope you

sleep well. And I hope you have a good day tomorrow. You can invite your child to send

the wishes to family members in the house and to themselves. And there are guided practices

in the headspace app that lead children through the friendly wishes practice and other

wind down exercises like a tucking in reflection. Finally, remind your child to welcome all

of their emotions. They can think of emotions as visitors who let us know what's most important

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