Stress is a common phenomenon in life and even a newborn baby may experience stress of certain kinds. Stress begins from the womb and follows a person to the tomb. No one can resist stress and the only possible way of resisting it is to undergo it and learn to manage it. Stress in family can get more highlighted than any other stresses, as family is the union of people who are bound to love, and affection.
Any kind of stress felt in the family can affect each one of the members and also the entire jovial atmosphere of the family. Each one of the family member lives in various situations and it is possible that any one of them undergo stressful situations any time of life. Stress is an unpredictable element of life, though precautions work to an extent, learning best ways of stress management is the only solution to avoid the after effects of stress.
Let us see the ways of stress guarding the family in the most successful way.
Learn to recognize stress
Stress is an invisible emotion as it doesn’t have a specific form of expression. Stress is more or less an abstract emotion and gets expressed with the help of many other negative emotions. Also, there is no a single common expression corresponding to stress. A person may get angry when he/she is stressed; another one may break into tears and yet another person may feel depressed.
Each person may develop his/her own mode of stress releasing and expression. Family members should know each other well and also should learn the ways of expressing the stress. Only if you learn the mode of expression of each person, you can understand who is stressed out and who not.
Dealing with Stress in Children
Elders may control stress within a limit and also might have developed own ways of limiting the expression of stress within the boundary of social acceptance. Kids also feel stress at various situations. The academic learning demands, friendship struggles etc., may make them stressed out. Family is the only place they can flow out the tensions freely.
When kids act in strange ways, or show angry; then parents need to understand that there is some stress lying underneath the minds and they are just expressing it through resistance, defense and anger. Teach kids that stress is a common emotion and also let them be trained with the methods of dealing with it. Proper understanding of life situations may help children to take stressful situations lightly.
Stress of Spouse
In a family life the partners may have to share every emotion equally. When your spouse is tensed out of certain issues you may not just stay away from him/her and isolate the person to be more stressed. When the tensions shared, they get reduced half the way. If you feel that your spouse is undergoing certain stress, create a feeling that you are always with him/her and try to understand the reason for stress by communicating with the person in a soothing way.
Do not blame or shout at the person for getting into the stressful situation, even if it is the mistake of the person. Tell him/her that such occasions are common in your life and advice the ways of leaving it behind. You can also do certain favors to the person by cooking some food for him/her or doing some of the works which is bound to the person. Let the person be calm and quiet, away from disturbing works and talks.
Family Stress Relief Activities
When the entire family or a particular member is stressed out, you can introduce some family activity that can ease the situation. An outdoor dinner is an excellent idea for helping a person to release the stress. Family outings, cooking, outdoor games, camping etc., may ease the situation and divert the attention of the stressed person into something interesting.
When you feel that a member in the family is stressed or tensed, do not leave the person unattended or isolated as it may make the person suffer more and get into unwanted expressions. Introducing a better health plan is essential to avoid frequent stress among the members of the family.
