Watching developments on the news these days is sometimes distressing for all of us.

In fact, it’s important to recognize that if it’s impacting us, as well as impacting our kids.

Mae, from Fox 40 Sacramento spoke to therapist Nancy Ryan about how to keep stress away from our children. Nancy is the owner and director of Relationship Therapy Center.

Tips:

First, try to limit your time watching the news as well as just ruminating over and over about it.  Similarily, look at what you can control and what you can’t.  Likewise, work to reduce the fight or flight system in our body.  It can be helpful to talk about the emotions that are there. Which often include anger, sadness, and a sense of powerlessness.

Ask your kids what they notice and how they are feeling?  Most importantly, use open ended questions.  At the same time, reassure younger children that an event was scary and people made bad choices. But there were people that helped make it safe.  Remind them that they are safe at home.  In fact, sports analogies are helpful for older children to talk about how to be a gracious loser. Importantly, you also want to make sure you are talking about emotions as well.

Other Counseling Services at The Relationship Therapy Center in California:

In addition to teen therapy, Our Sacramento area counseling clinics located in Roseville and Fair Oaks, CA are pleased to offer a variety of mental health services. Our couples services include: Couples Counseling, Counseling after infidelity, sex therapy, co-parent counseling, family therapy, divorce counseling, intensive couples retreats, and premarital counseling. Our individual therapy services include anxiety treatment, therapy for children, teen therapy, depression treatment, codependency counseling and individual relationship counseling. Our therapists offer online counseling in California to treat a variety of mental health concerns. Please reach out to our Sacramento area therapy office to learn more about the many ways we can help you or your loved ones.