Fighting Fair

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Parent-child relationships can start being strained as your adolescent navigates junior high and the process of growing up. You may find yourself fighting with your kid more often. Below are some helpful things to keep in mind! 

  • Before you begin, ask yourself why you feel upset. 
  • Discuss one issue at a time. 
  • No degrading language. 
  • Express your feelings with words and take responsibility. 
  • Take turns talking. 
  • No stonewalling (refusing to talk). 
  • No yelling. 
  • Take a time-out if things get too heated. o Allow yourself time to cool off before talking. 
  • Attempt to come to a compromise. 

The worksheet in the PDF is for each parent and adolescent to fill out their own. Then sit and listen as you read to each other. Use the skills above to understand the other’s perspective and talk through the conflict. 

Source: Therapist Aid

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5 Senses Mindfulness Scavenger Hunt

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Mindfulness is defined as calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. This activity helps students focus on the things they can see, hear, and feel in their environment. It also challenges students to spend time outside and reduce screen time, both of which have great proven benefits.

Source:  Childhood101

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Get Creative with Homemade Mandalas

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Objective and Purpose: Reteach the basic concepts of mindfulness and gratitude. Teach students how to utilize mandalas in a fun and engaging way.

Mindfulness acronym: P.A.O.P. = Paying Attention on Purpose

Gratitude acronym: G.E.T. = Give Enough Time

How is your body feeling today? How are you doing emotionally? What are you grateful for? It can be fun to take time out of your day to create a mandala. It is a skill that can be used to help with stress management. A mandala is a complex abstract design that is usually in circular form. Mandalas have one identifiable center point with symbols, shapes, and forms. You can choose whatever shapes and colors you feel express your sense of self. Take 15-30 minutes to utilize your creative outlet daily and enjoy creating a mandala. This is an example of a homemade mandala. Ask before making a mandala with food. Get other family members involved. Also, if weather permits, go outside and create a mandala together. Here is an example of a homemade mandala.

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Al’s Pals: Talking About Being Healthy and Sharing Feelings

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In this video, Al talks to children about feelings they might be having from missing their friends and teachers and staying home, and the importance of staying healthy. Al sings the “I’m a Healthy Child” song that reminds children that being healthy means taking care of their bodies and talking about how they feel.

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Al’s Pals: Talking About Missing Friends and Being Sad

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In this video, Al encourages children to talk to trusted adults about feelings they may have from missing fun events and friends due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Al sings the “Be My Friend” song and reminds children that he will always be their friend.

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Color How the Heart Feels

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Select a color for each feeling that you have felt in the last week. Write the color and feeling on the right and color how much you have felt each feeling in the heart.

Example: If you use the color pink for happy and you’ve felt mostly happy in the last week, use more pink to color inside your heart.

Youth First Family Material – ES – Color How the Heart Feels (PDF)Download
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Emotions Charades

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Discussion about Expressing Feelings

You might begin the activity by talking with children about the importance of expressing our feelings in a constructive way – and of understanding others’ feelings. Expressing and acknowledging feelings is an important tool for resolving conflicts. And trying to understand another person’s feelings can help de-escalate conflict.

When someone doesn’t use words to say what they’re feeling we often try to guess what they feel by interpreting their facial expression or their body language.

In Feelings Charades, students will have a chance to demonstrate one emotion. The rest of the family or class will guess what the emotion is. The person who is doing the charade cannot speak – they must use facial expressions or body language to get classmates to guess the emotion.

Write down different feelings/emotions on slips of paper. Place them in a bowl and take turns pulling them and acting them out. Once the correct feeling/ emotion is chosen the person that guessed correctly gets a turn.

*This activity can help expand vocabulary as there are many similar emotions. (See emotions wheel below.)

Youth First Family Material – ES – Emotions Charades (PDF)Download
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Animal Poses Yoga

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Yoga helps kids relax, relieve stress and anxiety, sleep better, improve emotional regulation, increase empathy, and improve mood and affect. Try these fun poses with your kids at home!

Source: 5 Zoo Yoga Poses for Kids (Printable Poster) – Kids Yoga Stories

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Emotions UNO

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Play the game UNO with the standard deck, set up, and game rules. To add the twist, each color represents a different emotion:

  • When a player lays a yellow card, the player shares a time they felt happy or something that makes them happy.
  • When a player lays a blue card, the player shares a time they felt sad or something that makes them sad.
  • When a player lays a red card, the player shares a time they felt mad or something that makes them mad.
  • When a player lays a green card, the player shares a time they felt calm/relaxed or something that makes them feel calm/relaxed.
Youth First Family Material – ES – Emotions UNODownload
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