• 0Shopping Cart
  • About Me
    • Media
  • Coaching
  • Resources
    • Podcasts
    • Guides
    • Workshops
  • Blog
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Helping your 3-5 year old Manage Stress

August 24, 2022|inAnxiety & Stress

Dr. Linda, since the separation from my husband,  my three-year-old has started biting his baby sister. Is this normal?  How can I protect the baby?  What should I do?

As we talked about in last week’s blog, children who feel stressed will show the stress  and anxiety through their behaviors even when they don’t yet have the words.

Signs of stress and anxiety in 3-5-year-olds (preschoolers)

  • Temper tantrums.
  • Separation anxiety and clinginess.
  • Aggressive behavior.
  • Thumb sucking.
  • New fears like fear of strangers, darkness or monsters.
  • Changes in their eating and/or sleeping habits.
  • They may act out the events that happened or tell exaggerated stories about what happened.
  • They may develop symptoms like tummy aches, backaches, headaches that have no medical explanation.

Please know that after the trauma has been dealt with, order has been restored, and your child feels safer, these behaviors should go away as long as you set the tone and use the proper skills to support them.

stress

Tips for talking to your preschooler about stressful situations

If your child develops any of these symptoms after a traumatic event here are a few pointers about how to talk to them

3-5-year-olds have an age-appropriate understanding of what is going on so it is important that you take the time to talk to them and explain what is going on:

  • Take the time to calm yourself first.
  • Get down to their level and make eye contact with them.
  • Tell them what is happening and how it will affect them. Use words that they will understand. Be brief and be very literal in your explanations.
  • Reassure them they did not do anything wrong.
  • Tell them you will do everything you can to keep them safe.
  • If it is a natural disaster or a war situation tell them about all the people they can’t see and who are working to keep all of you safe: The firefighters, police, paramedics, civil defense, doctors, nurses, etc.
stress

Ways to help your preschooler manage stress in healthy ways

  • Get back to your normal routines (or as close as possible) as soon as you can.
  • Try to feed your child a healthy diet at regular intervals to keep their blood sugar stable.
  • Make sure to spend ‘special time’ with them every day
  • Be sure to do lots of snuggling and hugging with your preschooler
  • Remember to reassure your preschooler often that you love them, they are safe and you will do everything you can to help them feel safe and secure.
  • Teach your child stress relief skills like:
      • Deep breathing: Have them practice deep breathing 3 times a day so when you notice they are getting wound up and ready to have a meltdown you can coach them to breathe deeply instead. Have them pretend to blow out birthday candles, blow bubbles, blow up a mylar balloon, or blow on a pinwheel.
      • Exercise: Jumping rope, dancing, jumping jacks or yoga poses are all thing that can be done anywhere. These things are fun to do, distract your child, and release chemicals that lower stress and which help your child feel better.
      • Teach your child other healthy ways to express their feelings:
        • Through words( teach them feeling words like scared, frustrated, worried, bored, angry, sad, happy, excited) they can then use these words to talk to you or to sing about how they feel.
        • Show your child they can draw their feelings.
        • Teach your child movements like stomping,  pretending to be an angry elephant or dancing they can use to express how they feel

Positive discipline to manage unwanted behaviors

Back to the question: ”Dr. Linda, since my husband left the country, my three-year-old has started biting his baby sister. Is this normal?  How can I protect the baby?  What should I do?”

If your child has started having some harmful behaviors as a result of stress here are some things you want to consider:

  • How can you minimize the harmful behaviors they are exhibiting?
  • How can you be sure to reinforce all the positive behaviors he/she has?
  • What healthy stress management  strategies can you teach them?

Let’s say your child has started biting his baby sister, like the child in the question. You know biting is dangerous and can lead to serious infections but you don’t want to add more stress to your toddler’s life.

  • Choose one or two of the above stress relief strategies to teach and practice with your child to help him cope with the stress he is feeling as a result of the separation.
  • Spend ‘special time’ with your child every day where you have fun and enjoy each other’s company. “Special time’ is designed to be a 5-10-minute period where you spend dedicated, high quality time with your preschooler, completely focused on them and where you do what they want (within reason). This lets your child know that you love them and that they are important to you. It also gives them some control in a situation where they feel they have no control.
  • ‘Catch’ your child doing ‘positive’ behaviors and be sure to acknowledge them “ I am so impressed that you are playing alone so well while I take care of the baby. I really appreciate it and I am so proud of your behavior”. Then give him a hug, a kiss, or a high five.
  • Teach your preschooler to use a ‘calming corner’ where he can go to calm down when he is feeling very stressed ( we’ll talk more about this in future blogs)
  • Consider using “time out” as a gentle and effective way to help discourage your child from biting the baby if it continues despite the above strategies.
stress

If all else fails, try positive timeout

  • Establish limits about what behavior you will and will not accept.
  • Tell your child the ‘rules’ and make sure to tell them clearly what the ‘consequence’ of breaking the rule will be. For instance: “We have a no biting rule in our house. Anyone who chooses to break that rule will be making the choice to go to time out”
  • Watch your preschooler for times when he does not bite his sister and praise his behavior: “ Ahmad, I am so proud of your behavior. I am so impressed you are following our ‘no biting’ rule so well” Then give him a hug or a high five.
  • Watch your preschooler during situations when he has bitten his sister in the past. If you see his stress level go up, distract him or do some deep breathing with him, or encourage him to use the ‘calming corner’ ( as we talked about earlier)
  • If for some reason you missed these opportunities, or for some reason the biting hasn’t stopped, and your preschooler bit his sister you can say: “ I see you have made the choice to go to time out.” Calmly and quietly (this is key) take him by the hand and put him in the time out area. Start the timer (1 minutes per year of age) and walk away letting your toddler know he will be able to leave time out when the timer goes off. It is important you enforce this consequence calmly and quietly every time your preschooler bites his sister. The calmer and more consistent you are the faster the behavior will start to go away.
  • After the time out, kiss and snuggle your toddler, reassure him that you love him and that you will do everything in your power to keep him safe.
  • Continue practicing and teaching the more ‘positive ‘  strategies at calmer moments during the day so your preschooler doesn’t have to resort to biting or negative behaviors to manage their strong emotions. Teaching them these skills when they are calm allows you to be able to coach them through using them during the  more challenging times

To your holistic health and happiness,
Dr. Linda

TagsAnxiety, Back Pain, Blood Glucose, Breathing Exercises, Child, Dancing, Darkness, Diet, Exercise, Fear, Fingersucking, Headache, Healthy, Infant, Love, Natural Disasters, Preschool, Separation, Sleep, Sleep problems, Spouses, Trauma, anxiety symptoms, anxiety treatment, art therapy, biting, calming corner, connection, consequences, deep breathing, emotional intelligence, managing stress, nightmares, positive discipline, preschoolers, self-care, self-control, sibling rivalry, special time, stress, stress relief, symptoms of anxiety in preschoolers, symptoms of stress, talking about stressful situations, thumbsucking, time out
Share this Article
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Other Categories

  • Anxiety & Stress (6)
  • Breastfeeding (1)
  • Common Challenges (5)
  • Newborn Care (6)
  • Nutrition (4)

Also Read

  • Homemade Baby FoodPreparing Homemade Baby Food (Best Practices): Part 1July 19, 2022 - 1:31 pm
  • solid foodsSolid Foods, is my baby ready? 4 Types you can start withJuly 18, 2022 - 5:31 pm
  • baby foodBaby Food Advancing: Part 2June 20, 2022 - 3:17 am
  • baby foodBaby Food Advancing: Part 1June 19, 2022 - 3:57 pm

Latest Instagram

كيف نتعامل مع أعراض الإنفلو كيف نتعامل مع أعراض الإنفلونزا من حرارة وسعال وغيرها
#مطعوم_الانفلونزا #مطاعيم #طفلي #انفلونزا #رشح #حرارة #السعودية #الأردن #مصر #قطر #طب_أطفال #طب_الاطفال #askdrlinda
See More Follow Me

Latest TikTok

View on TikTok

Disclaimer

The information in this website is for educational and informational purposes only . It is not meant to be used or relied upon for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. Read More

Legal

  • Global Parenting Initiative
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyrights
  • Refund and Returns Policy

Contact

I honor your privacy and your child’s privacy, I will keep any information you send to my contact details strictly confidential

Email drlinda@askdrlinda.com

Whatsapp: +962790055979

Subscribe

© Copyright - Dr. Linda Abu Jaber Made by Mono Media ME
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Rss
Help Your Children Cope After a Stressful SituationStress: Helping your 6-19 Cope with it
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

AcceptHide

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
AcceptHide Notification
DISCLAIMER
The information in this website is for educational and informational purposes only . It is not meant to be used or relied upon for any diagnostic or treatment purposes.
I Agree

AGREEMENT TO TERMS

These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“you”) and [business entity name] (“we,” “us” or “our”), concerning your access to and use of the [website name.com] website as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the “Site”). 
You agree that by accessing the Site, you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with all of these Terms and Conditions, then you are expressly prohibited from using the Site and you must discontinue use immediately.
Supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on the Site from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to make changes or modifications to these Terms and Conditions at any time and for any reason. 
We will alert you about any changes by updating the “Last updated” date of these Terms and Conditions, and you waive any right to receive specific notice of each such change. 

It is your responsibility to periodically review these Terms and Conditions to stay informed of updates. You will be subject to, and will be deemed to have been made aware of and to have accepted, the changes in any revised Terms and Conditions by your continued use of the Site after the date such revised Terms and Conditions are posted.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Unless otherwise indicated, the Site is our proprietary property and all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, and graphics on the Site (collectively, the “Content”) and the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (the “Marks”) are owned or controlled by us or licensed to us, and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions. 

The Content and the Marks are provided on the Site “AS IS” for your information and personal use only. Except as expressly provided in these Terms and Conditions, no part of the Site and no Content or Marks may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission.


Provided that you are eligible to use the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you in and to the Site, the Content and the Marks.


USER REPRESENTATIONS

You may be required to register with the Site. You agree to keep your password confidential and will be responsible for all use of your account and password. We reserve the right to remove, reclaim, or change a username you select if we determine, in our sole discretion, that such username is inappropriate, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.
You may not access or use the Site for any purpose other than that for which we make the Site available. The Site may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us. 

PRIVACY POLICY

We care about data privacy and security. Please review our Privacy Policy [CLICK HERE]/posted on the Site]. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms and Conditions. Please be advised the Site is hosted in the United States. 
If you access the Site from the European Union, Asia, or any other region of the world with laws or other requirements governing personal data collection, use, or disclosure that differ from applicable laws in the United States, then through your continued use of the Site, you are transferring your data to the United States, and you expressly consent to have your data transferred to and processed in the United States. 
[Further, we do not knowingly accept, request, or solicit information from children or knowingly market to children. Therefore, in accordance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, if we receive actual knowledge that anyone under the age of 13 has provided personal information to us without the requisite and verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information from the Site as quickly as is reasonably practical.]
Our Terms & Conditions
I Agree