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Have you ever noticed that your stress level can affect your child's stress level (or for that matter, anyone around you)?  

Do you spend a large portion for you day feeling anxious, sad or worried?  Sometimes, how we feel can rub off on those around us - particularly those who are perceptive to their surroundings.  Stress management is, therefore, not only important for yourself, but for your family, friends and co-workers, too.  Don't be dismayed; on top of everything else you're handling, this is not added work or pressure!  There are some easy things that you can do, today, to feel less stressed.

For example, does managing multiple children's schedules stress you out?  Are you constantly managing who needs to be picked up when and dropped off where?  Try putting a large calendar in the kitchen with everyone's schedule on it. This helps you - and everyone else – manage schedules and the coordination of activities.  As a parent, you may be “command central”, but a schedule located in plain sight provides an opportunity for other family members to understand the coordination required to ensure everyone gets where they need to be!

Teaching your child time management skills not only helps your child grow – it can help manage your stress level as well! Discovering that your child has an assignment due the next morning, which was assigned last week and involves multiple steps, is frustrating….usually more frustrating for you than for your child!  You can mitigate this frustration by teaching your child to manage his/her homework load.  This can start when your child is finishing elementary school or beginning middle school, although it’s applicable at any age.  Does your child keep a day-planner and write down assignments?  If the school doesn't provide one, then pick up a really simple one or make one for your child.  Ask them to write down their homework at school every day.   For the younger ones, this can simply be 'math' or 'reading'; it's helpful for the older ones to have as much detail as possible.  Your job, then, is to check it frequently.

This will decrease the anxiety associated with your child’s schoolwork since both of you will know what needs to be done.  This type of behavior modification is called the ripple effect.  It's great for stress management.  Quite simply, what you do affects those around you!

Dr. Elizabeth Ricanati is the mother of three children and founding medical director of The Cleveland Clinic's LifeStyle 180 program.  She is a regular columnist for ShareWIK.com

More Dr. Elizabeth Ricanati articles, click here.

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