92 www. AspireMAG. net | April / May 2025
5 WAYS TO HELP YOUR CHILD THRIVE AND SUPPORT YOURSELF
1. Help your child to recognize and understand their superpowers( highly sensitive traits).
Explain to them what happens when they are overwhelmed or anxious. Daniel Siegel’ s‘ Hand Model of the Brain’ is easy to understand and use to explain to kids what happens when they are experiencing stress and demonstrates how to“ re-engage” their thinking brain. You can find his videos on YouTube.
2. Have a plan on how to manage your emotions when you need to support your highly sensitive child.
Do NOT wait until the situation arises to try to navigate your own emotions and their anger or meltdown. Know what you want to do when the upset occurs.
When there is upset neither you or the child is in your thinking brain. You may immediately think“ I’ m the adult”. However, when you’ re triggered by your child or stressed from your day, you’ re in the fight, flight or flee- stress emotional( the amygdala), reptilian part of your brain.
That’ s why it’ s important to have a variety of steps or strategies ready to implement to support yourself and your child during an upset. Have daily calming rituals. Your child’ s brain will be attuned to yours, so the calmer you are the quicker the highly sensitive child will calm.
92 www. AspireMAG. net | April / May 2025