Let’s face it, the last eighteen months have been pretty stressful for almost everyone in one way or another, but how adept are we at recognising the signs of stress in our children and young people?

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Here is another in my series of articles based on conversations with children, first published in Teach Early Years magazine. In each piece, I focus on one prominent theme. For this one, it’s ANXIETY. My thanks to editor Mark Hayhurst for allowing reproduction, and if you want to know more, details of this and their other magazines and resources are available at: https://www.teachwire.net

       - Is there anything you find difficult to tell a grown-up?

       - Yes. When mummy worries, it makes me worry too.                         (P - male)

Although this little boy answered my question by referring to his home situation rather than school, the emotion he was brave enough to share with me is universal. Young children are acutely aware of their grown-ups’ moods, and are quick to take responsibility for any upset in the status quo. 

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In the world of conference speaking, people often use the phrase ‘The Big Take Home’ or ‘The Big Take Away’, and almost any guide to public speaking will tell you that all presentations should have one. It’s a perfectly valid piece of advice and I always find it useful to decide on the main point I want people to leave with, even before I start writing a speech.

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Here is another in my series of articles based on conversations with children, first published in Teach Early Years magazine. In each piece, I focus on one prominent theme. For this one, it’s ANGER. My thanks to editor Mark Hayhurst for allowing reproduction, and if you want to know more, details of this and their other magazines and resources are available at: https://www.teachwire.net

• What lesson would you like grown-ups to learn about how to treat children?

• What I want them to learn… to let the children let all the anger… learn that children… just be able to let all the angers out.                              (M - female)
  

Crumbs! This little girl was very determined to make her point, even though she struggled to find the words. It was one of those occasions when a recent event had made quite the impact, and was colouring the child’s responses. However, what she was communicating struck me as very important indeed.

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So hands up everyone who made it through all those weeks of lockdown without having a single meltdown…

Thought so. You’d have to be some kind of mythical being not to have lost your rag with someone or other during these exceptionally hard times, and children can’t have escaped being in the firing line. Even though we know they are under stress too, they’ll behave in ways that really push our buttons and make it impossible for us to take that into account. Blow-ups are bound to occur, but when they do, the important thing is how we deal with the situation afterwards.
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