When Stress Strikes: How to Recognize and Respond to Your Child's Needs?

When Stress Strikes: How to Recognize and Respond to Your Child's Needs?

Stress and anxiety have become common issues among children. It has been drastically affecting their health and mental state. Stress at an early age kill the innocence of a child.

According to UNICEF, stress is affecting children just as much as adults, but differently.

The world around us is going through constant change. And this change is affecting your kid’s mind the most. Increasing competition, a load of expectations, and pressure to handle multiple things at a time are key factors responsible for increasing stress in children pushing children over the edge of their mental stability.

You need to recognize and respond to your child’s needs before it is too late.

Recognizing Stress in Children

Children show certain signs/symptoms when they are in stress. These symptoms might be similar to or even sometimes different from the common symptoms of stress in working individuals.

We can classify the signs of stress and anxiety in children in three different categories:

• Behavioural 
• Emotional
• Physical

Let us have a look at some of these symptoms…

Behavioural Symptoms:

• Uncontrolled anger
• Irrational crying, whining
• Recurring fears 
• Restlessness
• Stubborn behaviour

Emotional Symptoms:

• Losing control over emotions
• Decreased satisfaction 
• Lack of motivation
• Self-doubt

Your kid suddenly has developed a fear of the dark? Or he/she is so afraid to be alone and always clinging to you? These are also signs that say the child is suffering from stress and anxiety. In such cases, kids are not willing to socialize or participate in school or family activities.

Physical Symptoms:

• Headache 
• Decreased appetite
• Sleep troubles 
• Nightmares 
• Recurrent bedwetting 
• Upset stomach

In general, if your child is showing irrational physical symptoms without any diagnosable ailment. It might be due to stress. Even though stress originates at a mental level. But it takes over the physical aspects of your child’s health as well. Severe toxic stress in children might even stunt their mental growth.

How to Help Your Child Deal with Stress

Once you have identified signs of stress in your child, it's important to take action to help them cope. Here are some tips for managing childhood stress in kids:

1. Initiate a conversation
   The first step is to talk to your child about their feelings and experiences. Assure them that it's normal to feel stressed and that you are available to support them. Encourage open communication to help them feel more comfortable discussing their stressors with you, and provide them with the necessary support.
2. Encourage healthy coping strategies
   Introduce your child to various healthy coping mechanisms, such as journaling, exercise, deep breathing, or spending time in nature. Assist them in finding a coping mechanism that suits them best. Having a healthy way to cope with stress can make a significant difference in your child's ability to manage stress.
3. Encourage Positive Self Talk
   Encouraging your child to engage in positive self-talk is an effective way to deal with stress. Help them recognize negative thoughts and guide them to reframe them into positive statements. For instance, instead of saying "I can't do this, I'm so stressed," they can say "I am capable of handling this challenge." Promoting positive self-talk can help your child build resilience and cope better with stress.
4. Help them get organizedFor some children, stress arises from feeling overwhelmed and lacking control. One way to alleviate stress is by helping them get organized. You can teach them how to create a to-do list or demonstrate how to break down a large project into manageable tasks. Assisting your child with organization can make a significant difference in reducing their stress levels.
5. Promote healthy habits
   Encouraging healthy habits can significantly reduce childhood stress. It includes consuming a balanced diet, getting sufficient sleep, and engaging in regular exercise. Educating children about the significance of these practices can have a positive impact on their overall wellbeing and help them manage stress effectively in the long term.
6. Consider professional help
   If you feel that your child is struggling to manage stress, it may be necessary to seek professional help such as therapy or counselling. A trained professional can guide your child in understanding and coping with stress in a healthy way. Seeking professional help can be a crucial step in ensuring your child's mental wellbeing.

The Resiliency Program has great potential to encounter the symptoms and effects of stress in children. You must give it a fair shot to help you out with stress management for children.

by Mansi Jena

Employee Burnout Statistics 2023: Understanding the Causes & Impact of Burnout in the Workplace

Employee Burnout Statistics 2023: Understanding the Causes & Impact of Burnout in the Workplace

What is Employee Burnout?

Employee burnout refers to a condition of both physical and emotional exhaustion, leading to reduced productivity, lack of motivation and focus, decreased accomplishments, increasing employee stress in organization and sometimes even a loss of self-identity.

There has been increasing attention on the impact of burnout on individuals and organizations in recent years.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), employee burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that is not effectively managed.

The three main symptoms include

• Feelings of exhaustion
• Detachment from work
• Reduced productivity.

This emotional exhaustion significantly affects employee well-being and is a growing public health concern.

What is the reason for employee burnout?

The Gallup survey highlights five primary causes of employee burnout at work, which include:-

• Unfair treatment
• Unmanageable workload
• Lack of role clarity
• Lack of communication and support from the manager
• Unreasonable time pressure

However, this list is not exhaustive, and there could be other reasons for employee burnout. In essence, when employees are under high pressure and unsupported, it leads to burnout.

Why you should care about burnout?

There are several reasons why burnout should be a concern for everyone:

• Burnout can happen to anyone under the right circumstances.
• Burnout leads to significant organizational costs such as increased sick leave, higher employee turnover rates, lost revenue, and costs related to hiring and training replacements. Losing burnt-out employees who were previously engaged and productive can be particularly damaging, as can losing managers responsible for teams.
• Burnout may be a sign of a larger cultural problem within the company, resulting in decreased productivity and job satisfaction.

In recent years, burnout has become more prevalent due to the increasing intensity of certain factors, including the impact of the pandemic. According to a 2021 survey by Indeed, employee burnout has increased by 9% compared to pre-COVID levels. Additionally, only 24% of employees surveyed in 2022 feel that their company provides adequate support to workers, a significant decrease from the 49% of workers who were satisfied with employer support in 2020.

How to recognize and manage employee burnout?

Identifying employee burnout may not be easy, but it is important to look for signs such as exhaustion, disengagement, and reduced productivity. If previously productive and motivated employees are consistently exhibiting these symptoms, they may be experiencing burnout or are at risk of it.

• Discuss with your Team Member
• Sort Through the workload
• Reflect on your behavior
• Ensure a variety of work

For Example, Sam's manager noticed a change in his behavior at work, such as reluctance to contact existing clients, tardiness and becoming quiet in meetings. These could be signs of employee burnout, but symptoms may vary for each individual, and there may be other reasons for these changes. Therefore, an open conversation is necessary to address this issue. The first thing to do is to reduce employee stress at work.

Employee Burnout Prevention: The real challenge

Preventing employee burnout is crucial, and a proactive approach is better than trying to fix the issue after the fact. As a member of the company's leadership or HR team, there are several things you can do, including:-

• Organizing workshops
• Promoting a healthy work schedule
• Addressing cultural problems
• Crafting a mental health policy

As a manager, you can also prevent burnout on your team by being clear about roles and responsibilities, meeting with your team regularly, following an open-door policy, respecting your team's life outside of work, advocating for resources, and stopping your employees from overworking. In short, ensuring Stress Management for Employees can significantly reduce the chances of burnout.

Are you concerned about employee burnout in your organization? The Resiliency Program helps organizations prevent employee burnout by providing tools and resources to build resilience, manage stress, and maintain mental health. Investing in the program can reduce burnout, increase productivity and engagement, improve job satisfaction, and help you maximize the benefits of employee health and wellness programs.

by Mansi Jena