One of the more common questions my team and I get is around helping the kids. It might be their kids, the kids they teach at school, their grandkids, their nieces, nephews, and so on. Specifically, the question is around how to help the kids who are struggling with anxiety, depression, ADD, poor health, and so on. Usually, it is these kinds of issues and not the physical chronic illnesses, or pain – things like fibromyalgia, autoimmune, or adrenal fatigue that adults often struggle with – because youth does help us when it comes to regenerating tissues and keeping our immune system robust, which means it is more of the mental and behavioural pieces that get expressed in childhood and youth. 

It is IMPORTANT to understand that infants, toddlers, and children are reactive and emotionally immature, and they learn how to be mature, self-regulating, emotionally and mentally resilient human beings via US – the big people who are caring for them and nurturing them. If this topic is important to you, consider doing a mini self-directed “workshop” by watching the other resources I’ve linked up below here. 

Our kiddos have become the canaries in the coal mine; so many are suffocating, and it’s not their fault. My parting words here: be well, parent well, be good to the young ones (even if they aren’t your own), and please I beg of you, work on your own past traumas and do as much as you can to build your own emotional, mental, and behavioural health so the future of humanity is brighter and filled with hope. It starts with us who are here reading this now. The young ones are at our mercy.  

Here are some extra resources to take in and learn from around this topic. If you commit to all of them, it’ll take you about 2.5 hours, so consider it a mini YouTube self-directed workshop!

1 – VIDEO:  Branches of the ANS Overview

2 – VIDEO: How to tame a tantrum || Storytime with Irene Lyon

3 – AUDIO: The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study

4 – VIDEO: Nadine Burke-Harris’s TED TALK, How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime

5 – VIDEO: How to help anxious kids who are behaving “badly” – w/ Stephen Terrell

6 – VIDEO: How to create a healthy human being starts here (it’s not what you think)

Extra Credit Viewing (stories about early trauma and how it can show up):

1 – VIDEO: The Story of Teddy (how early trauma impacts all of us)

2 – VIDEO: The Story of Ryan (why secure attachment is essential)