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Smooth Sailing Through Life’s Changes: Mastering Emotional Regulation During Transitions

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SMOOTH SAILING THROUGH LIFE’S CHANGES: MASTERING EMOTIONAL REGULATION DURING TRANSITIONS

As we delve deeper into 2024, emotional regulation is a prominent theme that goes hand in hand with supporting transitions.

Understanding Transitions

Transitions in life are inevitable. Whether it’s starting a new school year, moving to a new home, or experiencing changes within the family dynamic, transitions can be challenging for both parents and children alike. During these times of change, emotions can run high, leading to stress and uncertainty.

What is Emotional Regulation?

Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to recognise, process and act upon the emotions that they feel within different situations on a regular day. It is one’s ability to adjust and control their energy level, emotions, behaviours, and attention to allow for success in connecting with our loved ones and engaging in our daily lives. We provide even more information on our “Tools to Support Emotions” blog.

Emotional regulation is a skill that is developed over time. Emotional regulation is essential for healthy emotional development and well-being throughout life. There are two stages to emotional regulation.

Co-regulation is the foundation for emotional development, allowing children to explore, learn and understand unfamiliar situations while parents support them by providing a safety net. 

Self-regulation involves the ability to notice and change/control one’s own feelings and adapt to surroundings. Emotional regulation is essential for healthy emotional development and well-being throughout life. To find out more information, refer to our “Emotional Regulation” blog.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

Transitions can evoke a range of emotions, from excitement and anticipation to anxiety and fear. Children who thrive on routine and stability may feel their sense of security disrupted, leading to vulnerability and insecurity. Similarly, parents may experience a mix of pride, worry, and doubt as they navigate unfamiliar territory. With the right tools and support, families can navigate transitions more smoothly, fostering emotional regulation and resilience along the way.

Strategies for Emotional Regulation

So, how can we help you support your child emotionally regulate during transitions? As Occupational Therapists, our role is to enable children and parents to recognise, understand and manage their emotions during times of change. Whether they are transitioning from breakfast to getting dressed or from home to school, navigating our emotions is a difficult task and can depend heavily on our sense of safety within ourselves and others and our connection to place, person, or thing. 

Here are some practical strategies and tools:

1. Transition Time: Allow ample time for transitions, providing a buffer for individuals to adjust mentally and emotionally.

2. Observation: Pay attention to the child’s body language, affect, tone of voice, and overall demeanour to gauge their emotional state.

  • Are we slouching our shoulders or dropping our head?
  • Are we smiling, and are our faces lit up? 
  • Is our tone of voice low, high-pitched, or fast-paced? 
  • Do we appear frazzled or disinterested?
  • Do we seem tired or overwhelmed from something that happened earlier?

3. Tools and Techniques we utilise, and you can too.

  • Visual schedules for predictability and routine. This also provides a point of orientation. 
  • Visual timers to set task timeframes and provide visual information of how long the task is.
  • Therapressure brushing is a technique for grounding and calming.
  • Therapeutic use of self for connection, following their lead and co-regulation.
  • Breathing exercises such as belly breathing or blowing bubbles.
  • Incorporating vestibular input through activities like wobble boards.
  • Providing oral input with stretches, cold drinks, or chewy foods.

Setting the Body Up

We call this process ‘Setting the Body Up’ as this prepares the body with sensory input and transition time to ease into daily activities.

Once our body is adequately ‘set up’ and we’ve allowed ‘transition time’. Transitions into daily activities won’t be as overwhelming. 

Emotional Continuum

We use cognitive-emotional strategies to support the emotional continuum. Strategies like sensory processing and cognitive strategies can help refine knowledge and apply skills in social situations. To learn more about how we use the above techniques as well as “Zones of Regulation,” “Size of Problem vs Reaction,” “The Alert Program,” “The Incredible Flexible You Series,” and “The Social Thinking Detectives” refer to our “The Emotional Continuum” blog. 

Embracing Change Together

Transitions are unpredictable, and allowing yourself grace in navigating them is essential. Understanding your own triggers and emotions is key to understanding how to emotionally regulate yourself. As parents, showing vulnerability can help model to our children that, YES, change can be scary, but you can do this as a TEAM.  Encourage open communication about challenges and solutions, empowering your child to take ownership and responsibility for the transition process.

Ask your child and yourself what is challenging about the transition to school/work or what makes it hard to go to soccer training or out for a catch-up with a friend in the afternoon, and what could we do to make it easier? This collaboration provides a sense of ownership and responsibility for our child and can result in increased adherence to routine, reducing the risk of emotional dysregulation.

Ready to embark on a smoother journey through life’s transitions? Start implementing these strategies today to foster emotional regulation and resilience in your family. Remember, every small step counts towards a smoother sail!

By implementing these strategies and fostering a supportive environment, families can navigate transitions more smoothly, fostering emotional regulation and resilience along the way. Contact us today if you would like to chat about transitions and how we can help.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Molly

PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

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Parenting – You’re the expert; we are here to support the transition!

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PARENTING – YOU’RE THE EXPERT, WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT THE TRANSITION!

As the sun rises on a new week, we hear the hum of school routines resuming, marking the return of familiar patterns.

During the past week or so, many of our families will have returned to school and the routines that it brings with it. For some of our families, February is a transition period where new routines and ways of balancing life are being forged as their child starts daycare or preschool, kindergarten or high school or even a child not being back at school because they have finished or commenced in a type of employment.

How do transitions feel for parents and children?

This transition period can be a daunting time – a rollercoaster of emotions not only for our children as they learn their new environment and the expectations that go along with it. But it is also a rollercoaster as a parent as we navigate a shift in our role; a moment of letting go but also sometimes the fear of the unknown. Our journey into parenthood commences with dreams, hopes, and a multitude of expectations, but from the moment we commence on our journey to become parents, the road ahead is filled with dips and hollows that we can genuinely not prepare ourselves for; however, acknowledging and recognising the transitions within our parenting journey allows us to adapt and grow.


What types of transitions are there?

Some of those significant transitions that we can anticipate during parenting might include:
● Bringing your newborn baby home for the first time
● Starting at daycare or preschool
● Starting kindergarten or high school
● Puberty
● Our child starting their first job and seeking more independence.
● Our child turning 16 and seeking to get a driver’s license.
● Finishing school
● Moving out of home.

But there are also many transitions that we do not anticipate happening during our journey as parents – a child becoming unwell, a diagnosis that wasn’t expected, a death, a separation. All of these heart-wrenching trials require us as parents and individuals to stop, pause, reassess and pivot in our roles and in our way of doing things. Explore & Soar stands as a beacon, acknowledging and respecting the unique narratives of every parenting journey. We recognise that transitions can be tough, change can be challenging, and the journey is as diverse as the individuals embarking on it, so no one’s story or journey is the same, and we respect that here at Explore & Soar.

How, then, can we, as OTs, stand beside you and support you as parents on this rollercoaster?

A Holistic Approach to Transitions

During our university studies, we learn in-depth about the interaction between how, where and why we do things and the positive and negative impact this can have on an individual’s overall health. When we work with a child and their family, we consider the whole person; we consider what strategies, interventions and approaches we are going to use. At Explore and Soar, we want to be able to support you just as much as your child in their journey towards their goals! Sometimes, therapy sessions can provide that space so that you can take a breath, sneak a quiet cuppa in the corner, and recharge while the therapist is working with your child.

It’s also important to ensure that, as parents, we are scheduling our own self-care time – it’s the flight safety briefing message – you need to put your oxygen mask on first before you can help those around you! Checking in with ourselves, noticing our own regulation patterns and adapting our responses also helps to show our children different strategies or ideas they can use when they feel overwhelmed, exhausted or touched out.

Empowering Parents with Self-Care

Next time your therapist recommends some home program exercises, consider them as not just a task for your child but as opportunities for you to connect – Try to do them with your child! See how they make you feel before and after completing them. Talk to your child about them and compare feelings.

At times, we do have those uncomfortable conversations around things we have noticed or ideas on what could make a difference in helping your child with their goal. Our therapists are noticing things from the outside and through our trained eyes. It is not from a place of
judgement but rather a place of working alongside you to build you up. As a parent, you are your child’s biggest advocate and teacher. You have the expertise in your child; it is our role as OTs to help refine this, adjusting and adapting to different transitions across your parenting journey.

Embracing Change Together

As we navigate the ebb and flow of February’s transitions, let’s remember that parenting is a continuous journey of learning and growth. Embrace your experiences, connect with others sharing similar paths, and let’s soar through these transitions together. Share your stories, seek support, and revel in the collective strength that arises when we navigate as a community.

May your journey through 2024 be filled with resilience, adaptability, and the unwavering support that Explore & Soar offers. Here’s to embracing the rollercoaster of parenting with open hearts and a community that understands that every twist and turn is a part of our unique and beautiful story.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Lori

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 2024

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Navigating the Transition to High School: A Parent’s Guide

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NAVIGATING THE TRANSITION TO HIGH SCHOOL: A PARENT’S GUIDE

Over the past few weeks, we have visited many of our local schools to talk to parents and families of children starting kindergarten in 2024. During these talks, we provide lots of information about how you can support your little person for a successful transition to big school. You can click here to read more about the transition to kindergarten.

We understand that your child’s journey through the educational system is filled with milestones and transitions from the very beginning; however, the preschool to kindergarten transition isn’t the only transition in our schooling lives. One of the next big milestones is transitioning from primary school to high school. 

This move can be filled with just as many emotions and feelings – excitement for finishing primary school, growing up and what lies ahead. It can also be anxiety-provoking at the thought of changing schools, changing routines and the challenge of friendship groups changing and needing to make new friendships. All of which are valid feelings and thoughts!

In this blog, we’ll explore the various challenges your child may encounter during this transition and provide practical strategies to support them as they step into high school life.

Some of the challenges your child may face could include:

  • New Friendships – Making new friends or friendship groups changing; having to be vulnerable in talking to other people we don’t know or feel comfortable around just yet.
  • New Routines – High school bell times may be slightly earlier or later; how will this impact upon the daily routines of your child?
  • New Environment – Navigating their way around a new school can be overwhelming, knowing where the toilets are, where to go for help, or where their next class is. Or even navigating their way to and from school.
  • New Rules and Expectations – Having multiple subjects with different teachers in a new school can be daunting, being unsure of what the expectations are in and out of the classroom.

So, how can we best support our children in this transition to high school?

  • Get to know the school: Talk about it; arrange additional transition days to allow your child to feel more comfortable in this new space if needed.
  • Practice any new routines:  Practice ways to get to and from high school; make sure your child knows which bus to catch or where they will be dropped off or picked up from.
  • Visual Aids: Create a visual schedule or simple checklist to determine what they must take each day. Timetables can be tricky to work out! Break it down into what they need each day and then for each subject.
  • Map out the school: Get a copy of the school map if possible and colour code important areas such as the library, toilets, canteen, office etc.
  • Prepare for Social Interaction: Create “cheat cards” for conversation starters and role-play how to introduce themself to others. Remind them that it is highly likely that other children in the group are just as nervous about making new friends as they are.
  • Time Management and Assignments: Help them schedule, plan and prioritise how to complete assignments. Keep in communication with their teachers to know when things are due and how you can support your child.
  • Advocacy: Advocate and encourage your child to advocate also for their needs! A new school means new teachers who don’t know your child’s cues or needs. Provide as much information as possible to support consistency for your child across their teachers.

As your child embarks on this exciting journey to high school, remember that you are not alone. We are here to support you. If you would like more information about our group program, click here to check out the flyer. You can also reach out to us on 0477 708 217  or admin@exploreandsoar.com.au. 

We would love to see you in our groups!

Until next time, 
Lori

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 31, 2023

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