Is your child feeling anxious or scared about Coronavirus, wearing a mask, or leaving the house during the COVID-19 pandemic?  I stumbled up on this ebook by Jon Burgerman and I loved its uplifting message.  It's perfect for a kid (or adult!) struggling with discomfort during these uncomfortable days. Its honest and uplifting words lend themselves perfectly to calming self-talk  during Coronavirus. Scroll through to read the whole book here!

Click inside to find a comforting message that touches on the following important points:

• It's normal to feel worried, nervous, or afraid during this strange time
• Every day life feels different with so many places closed and usual activities cancelled during quarantine 
• Worry and panic can making you feel physically sick: tummy aches, headaches, and shortness of breath are common symptoms of anxiety
• There are lots of simple yet powerful coping skills for dealing with stress and anxiety caused by Coronavirus: ...

One of the coping skills I teach in counseling is healthy self-soothing -- how to calm down when overwhelmed by anxiety, anger, or stress.  (Cutting, lashing out, or abusing drugs or alcohol are examples of unhealthy self-soothing.)  In therapy we learn new ways to cope.  We practice mindfully calming our nervous system, stressful thoughts, and feelings through sensory soothing -- literally using our senses of touch, smell, sight, taste, and hearing to ground us in the present moment and alleviate stress. 

Kinetic sand is fun way to practice healthy self-soothing.  Kids are mesmerized by the stuff! It's amazing to see how quickly their energy changes as they dig their hands into the soft and pliable sand. I offer the box of Kinetic sand to teenagers and adults to play with while they talk.  If I notice them wringing their hands or picking at their cuticles while they talk, I offered them this alternative way to self-soothe. One mom told...

When struggling with anxiety or insecurity, it’s easy to feel powerless. That’s where finding ways to highlight mastery is healing. When kids are struggling, it can be natural for parents to want to fix it or save them. But that reinforces that they are powerless to solve their own problems. Opportunities to face problems (no matter how small) and deal with them are empowering.

In play therapy this happens in so many simple yet powerful ways. The child wants a toy that’s a little bit out of their reach? “Great! You can play with anything in this room. You can’t reach it? Why don’t you try again? You want my help but I think you can do it all by yourself. Oh man, that’s a tricky bin! But look, you got it down all by yourself. You didn’t need my help after all.”

Confidence and resilience can be instilled in little moments where a child learns their own strength. Practice not jumping in to save them on the little things, and then...

If you’re like me, deep breathing isn’t always as simple and effective as it sounds. When feeling anxious, I have had the tendency to over-think and over-stress (surprise!) just how to breathe. “Is it in through my mouth? Or nose? Do I hold it? I feel like I’m gonna pass out!” Can you relate?

Anxious feelings can be closely tied to not getting enough oxygen due to habitually taking short, shallow breaths. Therefore, simply pausing and taking a long, deep breath is a powerful way to calm your nervous system and move through feelings of stress and anxiety. I like to describe taking a deep breath as using a remote control  on the brain-- helping it quickly change the channel from one stressed out show to a calmer, more relaxed show.  A deep breath can calm the nervous system (and therefore the thoughts and emotions) that effectively.

If getting worked up and needing a way to calm down is a common grown-up problem, no wonder kids...