Resources for Parents

The transition back to school can be a very busy and hectic time for all the family.

It is important to carve out time for yourself throughout the day. Allow yourself a few minutes to sit and simply breathe; this can have a really positive impact your energy and mood.

The below guided meditation is just 5 minutes and will help centre, refocus and shift your energy.

This summer why not spend some family time, connecting and grounding together. Don't worry if your family have never tried yoga before, use our guide below to support you.

Get everyone to stand in the garden, in their bare feet if they can. Feel the grass and the earth beneath your feet. Take 3 slow deep breaths in and out. Try these yoga poses!

Download the PDF of the instructions for this activity here.

Tapping can be a powerful stress relieving technique.

Tapping regulates the nervous system by putting the body back into its relaxation response. This supports the immune system, digestive system, reproductive system, and endocrine (hormones) system to function as it should.

Try this step by step instructions on how to relive your stress and anxiety by tapping various parts of your body.

Activity

Download and print our PDF Instructions for this activity, or read them below. (Tip: print in black and white to save on your ink).

Instructions

1. Identify a problem/issue you have been having. It can be general anxiety, or it can be a specific situation or issue which causes you to feel anxious.
   
   
2. Consider the problem or situation. How do you feel about it right now? Rate the intensity level of your anxiety on a scale of 0 to 10, with zero being the lowest level of anxiety and ten being the highest.
   
   
3. Create a tapping statement. Your tapping statement should acknowledge the problem you want to deal with, then follow it with a phrase of acceptance.
   
   Tapping statement examples;
   - “Even though I am feeling worried, I accept how I feel”
   - “Even though I am feeling frustrated with this situation, I accept how I feel”
   
   
4. Using four fingers on one hand, begin tapping the Karate Chop point on your other hand. The Karate Chop point is on the outer edge of the hand, on the opposite side from the thumb (see diagram below).
   
   
5. Repeat your tapping statement three times aloud, while simultaneously tapping the Karate Chop point. Now take a deep breath.
   
   
6. Now, tap about 5 to 7 times each on the remaining eight points on your body, in the sequence described below. As you tap on each point, repeat a simple reminder phrase, such as "my worry" or "my frustration" to help you mentally focus on your issue.

Eyebrow Point
Where the eyebrows begin, closest to the bridge of the nose.

Side of Eye
On the bone directly along the outside of either eye.

Under Eye
On the bone directly under either eye.

Under Nose
The area directly beneath the nose and above the upper lip.

Chin Point
This is the area just below your bottom lip and above the chin, right in the crease.

Collarbone Point
Starting from where your collar bones meet in the centre, go down an inch and out an inch on either side.

Under Arm
On your side, about four inches beneath both armpits.

Top of Head
Directly on the crown of your head.
Source: TheTappingSolution.com

• And take another deep breath!
  
  
• Now that you've completed the sequence, focus on your problem again. How intense is the anxiety/worry/frustration now, in comparison to a few minutes ago? Give it a rating on the same 0 to 10 scale. Did you notice a shift?

It’s important to take moments throughout your day to mind yourself.

If you are a stay at home mum/dad, working from home or back in the office, create your own wellbeing plan for your day.

• Take a moment to practice this Mindful Tea Drinking activity.
  
  
• Use these Affirmation Cards, or create your own and remember to talk positively to yourself each day.

Rituals allow families to slow down and connect. We have all had time to slow down over the past few months. Let’s not forget the good feelings this brought.

Despite life getting a little busier now, remember to make time to incorporate special moments into your family life.

Try out some of these Family Rituals

Read the list together as a family and tick off the ones you would like to try!

• Have each family member share one kind thing that they did that day
• Create your own family handshake
• Choose a moment in the day where everyone sits, plays and laughs together
• Go on a weekly nature walk
• Create a rotating chore chart which changes ever Friday
• Make storytime a feature of every evening, taking turns to read or tell a story

Give yourself a moment to focus on your breathing, helping you feel calmer and relaxed and more present in your body.

Use the instructions and on the image below from Big Life Journal to help you.

Instructions:

1. When you wake up
2. Take a moment
3. Notice how your body feels: Are you tired/achy/refreshed
4. Allow yourself to take a few deep breaths

You may be feeling a little overwhelmed right now, which is completely understandable.

What’s important to remember is all of your feelings matter and acknowledging them is the first step in supporting a healthy emotional and physical state.

As you embark on another lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it will be important to maintain your own self-care.

Here’s some ideas of intentions you might want to set for yourself.

Practice:

Download a PDF of this practice to print out and maybe stick up on your wall, or follow the guide below. (Tip: print in black and white to save on your ink).

When you are feeling overwhelmed try to take 5 minutes to figure out what is going on for you. Take some deep breaths, tap into where you are feeling any tension in your body and spend a few moments acknowledging any feelings that are coming up for you, even the negative ones. Sometimes writing down your thoughts and feelings or journaling can really support you to express them.

Setting intentions can also be useful in order to feel hopeful and positive about the weeks and months ahead. You might have already done some of this with your child or family together but now it’s time to focus solely on you. 

I intend…

• to find what brings me joy
• to share how I am feeling with a friend
• to love and be loved
• to be more present
• to be grateful for what I have
• to focus on times that I feel empowered
• to help empower others
• to build my resilience
• to do something kind for myself everyday

Take your time to identify and write down an intention or set of intentions that support you in reaching your goals.

You can choose to say this intention when you wake up in the morning and again before going to sleep at night.

Or if you engage in a regular mindfulness practice, then you can say your intention to yourself or write it in a journal each time to begin your practice.

This one is for you the parent.

This guided gentle morning yoga flow will set you up for a great day.

Remember how important it is to take time for yourself to check in with yourself and be present.

Give yourself the gift of self-care this Christmas.

Watch this short video of one of our Project Workers Ruth explaining Baby Bonding. You can practice it with your infant/toddler or child today.

Follow allow with Ruth by downloading this Head, Heart and Hands Baby Bonding tip sheet.

There are some things we CAN control and there are some things we CANNOT.

This image from The Counseling Teacher helps us to remember the things that are in our control and the things that are not, especially during this stressful time.

As we head into a new school term it is the perfect time for us to reflect on our achievements and highlights over the summer and set some goals for the coming months.

This Glow and Grow activity is fun for the family to complete together – you can support each other in learning something new or taking on a new challenge, all while celebrating each other’s achievements.

Download a PDF with instructions for this activity here.

Hopefully you can spend some time as a family at the beach this summer.

Spending time together in nature can be fun and help create moments of shared joy. Whilst there, why not collect some unusual shells for painting as a family activity, thinking about the people in your life you love and spreading messages of kindness.

Download a PDF with instructions for this activity here.

It’s okay to feel worried sometimes. Many children might be feeling worried about returning to school this March and about the Current COVID-19 situation.

Sometimes our heads can get so full of worries that we can find it difficult to think about other things.

By creating a ‘Worry Monster’ with your child, you can support them to express these worries in a positive way – sometimes writing them down or drawing pictures can support children to do this.

It is important your child knows that they can talk to you about their worries and that you will try to support them.

It is also important that you ask them to name any other people in their lives whom they would feel comfortable talking to about their worries, e.g. teacher, aunt, grandparent, for times when you may not be available.

Picture Reference: Supersimple.com

Instructions

Download and print our PDF Instructions for this activity, or read them below. (Tip: print in black and white to save on your ink).

Materials:

• Cardboard box (preferably a medium/large tissue box as this already has a hole cut out)
• Sellotape
• Scissors
• Coloured pencils/markers/paints/glitter
• Pieces of paper
• Pen/pencil
• Any additional items for decoration (crepe paper, glitter, beads etc.) 

Steps:

1. Decorate the box together – support your child to be as creative as they wish – detailing the eyes, mouth, teeth, ears etc. of their worry monster & ensure the box is labelled or the monster given a name.
2. Remember to cut out a slit or opening for their mouth (this is where your child’s worries will go).
3. Explain to your child that this is now their very own worry monster who they can feed their worries to.

Guidance on supporting your child to use their Worry Monster box:

1. Support your child to first take a few big deep belly breaths.
2. Ask them how they feel in their body or where they are feeling it (there is no wrong answer). If they struggle with this, help them with giving an age appropriate example from your own experience, e.g. when I am worried I get a fuzzy feeling in my head.
3. You could at this point talk about different feelings and explore with your child each of their meanings. This might support them in being able to further express their feeling.
4. When your child is ready, allow them to write or draw how they are feeling and encourage them to then discuss this more with you when they are finished. Ask your child where they are feeling this worry in their body.
5. Suggest to your child that they fold up their worry and feed it to the ‘Worry Monster’.
6. Spend some time discussing the worry and any possible ways to support them with this feeling.
7. Agree with your child when you will sit down again next together to feed their ‘Worry Monster’.
8. Choose a place to store their ‘Worry Monster’ box.

This is likely to be an anxious and worrying time for lots of children returning to pre-school and school.

Talking to your children about their worries can be a really insightful and freeing experience for both the child and parent.

For younger children sometimes looking for clues in their play can be useful as we know children express themselves through play.

Here are some books about worries which you could read with your child, which should be available in your local library:

1. "The Huge Bag of Worries" by Virginia Ironside
2. "Bad Day" by Ruby Roth
3. "Ruby’s worry" by Tom Percival

Some questions to ask your child whilst reading together;

• What are some of the things that can worry you?
• What does worry feel like in your body?
• What can I do to help you when you are feeling worried?

Remember your response to your own worries, stress, and frustrations can go a long way toward teaching your children how to deal with everyday challenges

Finger-painting can be an excellent stress-reliever. The experience of using your fingers to create something fresh and new can be very uplifting emotionally and psychologically.

Everyone can benefit from this activity so why not try it together?

Recommended age 6 months +

Instructions:

Download and print our easy PDF Instructions for this activity, or read them below. (Tip: you can print in black and white to save on your ink).

Benefits of Finger Painting Feelings:

• Encourages your child's senses (Touch/feel, sight, smell, edible finger paint = taste)
• Helps a child's intellectual development (Learning new colours)
• Strengthens the hand and fingers which helps with fine motor skills.
• It’s FUN!!

Materials needed:

• Paint*
• Paper

*If your children are 6 years+ you can choose to use any regular paint. However if you are doing this activity with a baby/toddler (6 months+), see below how to make edible finger paints.

Steps:

1. Explain to your child that all feelings are OK and that everyone can feel lots of different feelings every day.
   
   
2. Ask your child to name some feelings they know?
   
   
3. Now ask your child to match a feeling with a colour E.G. they might say Happy = Light Blue, Angry = Red, Sad = Yellow. Allow them to come up with these themselves as it is their interpretation that is key.
   
   
4. Encourage them to finger paint those colours onto the paper (in whatever form they wish) and help them label what feelings they have shown in their picture.
   
   
5. Ask your child how they are feeling today?

 

Adaptation for 6months +

A simple finger painting activity with edible paint

Ingredients for edible paint:

• 4 Tablespoons of corn flour (corn starch)
• Cold water
• 1 Cup (237ml) of boiling water
• Liquid food colouring

Method to make edible paint:

1. In a medium saucepan, mix the cornflour with enough cold water to make a paste. (Not too runny).
   
   
2. Pour in 1 cup (237ml) of boiling water and stir thoroughly so there are no lumps.
   
   
3. Turn on medium heat on the hob and mix. The mixture will start to change and you will notice some clear streaks forming in the mixture. Once you see this, turn off the heat and continue stirring. It will start to thicken and turn into custard-like consistency.
   
   
4. Spoon equal amounts into empty jars, cups or containers and add food colouring. Mixing until completely combined. E.G. 3 drops of yellow, green, red and blue. To make orange, add 1 drop of red and 2 yellow and to make purple, add 1 drop of blue and 2 red.
   
   
5. This paint can be stored in the fridge covered with cling film for up to 2 weeks. This paint recipe does not have any preservative in it, so it is important to check that the paint has not expired before giving it to children.

Why not spend some time together as a family creating a special love jar, which shows each member of the family how much they are loved.

Family love is a special type of love that comes with its own unique feelings, behaviours, challenges, and rewards.

It is important not only to tell our family members how much we love them and why, but to also show them how much we love them by the things we say and do every day for each other.

Recommended for: the whole family.

Read the guide below, or download and print the PDF (Tip: print in black and white to save on your ink).

Family Love Jar Activity

Materials needed: 

• A large jar (or, a cardboard box will do) 
• Pieces of paper
• Pen, coloured pencils/markers
• String/ribbon 

Instructions:

1. On multiple pieces of paper, ask each member to think about the things they love about their family members. Support your children to write down the things they love about the people close to them. Below are some helpful prompts to get everyone writing: 
   
   - Special memories you have shared together
   - Words to describe how they make you feel
   - Ways in which they have shown you love, support and encouragement
   - Words to describe how much you love them
   - Funny stories you shared together
   - Why you appreciate them
   - Why you are grateful they are in your life
   
   
2. Put the pieces of paper into your Jar. Try to fill it all the way to the top. 
   
   
3. When you pop the lid on – tie the string or ribbon around the top of the jar and decorate it. 
   
   
4. Try to create a family ritual that each week you will choose a few notes to read out loud so that all members of the family can be reminded how much they are loved. This ritual could be before you play a game together, or watch a movie together as a family. 

 

Here is a short guided meditation from Louise Shanagher.

This is a nice time to reflect on the past few weeks with your children. It's good to make some time to think about themselves, their families and their school friends, whom they may not have had a chance to say a proper goodbye to this year.

This guided meditation helps us make kind wishes for people in our lives.

Recommended for ages 6+

Listen

This is a short guided meditation from Louise Shanagher to support your child in allowing them to be kind to themselves and think of kind wishes for others.

Recommended for ages 6+

Creating a mindfulness sensory ball is a fun and creative way to release any tension or nervous energy in our bodies.

They can help us centre ourselves in the present moment, strengthen the muscles in our hands and fingers and provide an outlet to relieve any frustrations we might have.

Download a PDF of instructions for this activity here.

Hopscotch improves your balance and co-ordination. It will also enhance muscle strength whilst having fun with friends and family.

This hopscotch challenge is about wellbeing. Each square has a wellbeing challenge associated with it, so that when you 'conquer' a square, you complete the challenge assigned to it. The game can be played together with family or friends or on your own.

Download a PDF of instructions for this activity here (including a list of materials you will need).

Encourage your child to follow along to this video, where Barnardos Project Worker Stephanie demonstrates how to do a simple mindful breathing exercise just using your hand.

Finger breathing can slow our breathing down and make us feel calm. Ask your child how they feel after?

Recommended ages 6+

Encourage your child to follow along to this video, where Barnardos Project Worker Stephanie demonstrates how to do a simple mindful breathing exercise by smelling a flower.

Ask your child how they feel after?

Recommended ages 6+

Try this guided meditation by GoZen with your child to help them practice more belly breathing.

Breathing deeply helps us feel calm and relaxed.

Ask your child what parts of their body move? Ask them how they feel after?

Recommended 6+ years

We have practiced lots of breathing techniques here on the body section. We understand the importance of children taking time to slow their breathing and connect with the present.

By now your child might have tried different types of breathing activities and might have found one or two that work for them. Continued encouragement from you will support their mastery of breathing calmly which has a huge benefit on their Heart, Body and Mind.

Here are some Breathing Cards, from childhood101.com, with different breathing activities and instructions. These can be printed and cut out for use every day with your child.

When we engage our senses in a unique way we can tap into a part of our brain and bodies that makes us feel calmer.

Why not create your very own Sensory Bag/Kit with your child and include different items that they enjoy which you know will make them feel calm and relaxed in moments when they might need it.

Here is an activity which the whole family can get involved in, starting from a young age.

Developing and using their gross motor skills supports your child's physical development, and it has also been shown to have a positive impact on learning, and important school day functions, such as attention and memory.

Body awareness is a vital tool you can support your children with. With every movement or exercise they do they are learning more about how their body moves and their awareness of themselves in the space around them.

Instructions:

Download and print our PDF instructions and dice template (Tip: print in black and white to save on your ink). Or read the instructions below and if you don’t have a printer, you could get creative and draw the outline of the dice template on a piece of paper or card.

Materials:

• Paper/card
• Sisscors
• Sellotape
  
  

Steps:

1. Download/draw the dice template. 
2. Use a scissors to cut out the dice template.
3. Fold the dice template on the dotted lines – sellotaping it together.
4. Once you have folded your cube dice, you're ready to get moving. Why not make a game of it. Each take turns to roll the dice and act out whichever movement you land on. Demonstrate first yourself.
5. Encourage your child to use big and small movements.
6. Remember to ask your child afterwards how and where they feel it their body.
7. Be silly and have fun with it!

Follow these simple instructions and get the Rainbow Rice Effect! This activity uses our sense of touch. Playing with different textures can help us feel calm.

Recommended for age 3+ (Supervision required for younger children)

Benefits:

• Improves fine motor skills
• Get used to different textures
• Explore different colours

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of uncooked Rice (Per colour)
• ½ teaspoon of water (Per colour)
• 15-20 drops of Food Colouring of choice (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple)
• Sandwich bags (Resealable bags)

 

Instructions:

1. Place 1 cup of rice into each bag
   
   
2. Mix ½ tsp of water + 15-20 drops of food colouring per colour
   
   
3. Zip up the bag and shake shake shake until the colour has spread evenly (If you need to add more colouring and water do that now)
   
   
4. Place the rice out onto a piece of parchment paper or tin foil and allow to dry
   
   
5. Repeat with your other colours
   
   
6. Once completely dry you can mix all the colours together in a storage container or lunch box
   
   
7. Now enjoy the rainbow rice effect!! Rub your hands in between the rice, cup the rice and move your hands in and out

As we go back to school after our summer holidays, we can feel many different emotions.

We may be sad the holidays are over but excited to see our friends and learn.

We might be nervous or a little scared of all the new things - a new teacher, new friends or even a new school.

Take a quiet moment to yourself and listen to the below meditation to release any fears or worries, you may have.

Listen to the mediation on Soundcloud - also available wherever you get your podcasts, just search "Hot Air Balloon Barnardos".

This short visualization and body awareness meditation is for the whole family to try.

Take a quiet moment in the day and encourage everyone to listen to this meditation. Maybe afterwards plan your day at the beach together.

Listen to the mediation on Soundcloud - also available wherever you get your podcasts, just search "Day at the Beach Barnardos".

It is normal for our minds to feel very fuzzy sometimes when we have lots of thoughts and feelings floating around. Here is a way to help your child settle their mind using a mindful breathing technique, the Glitter Jar.

This activity supports children to understand that our minds can feel very busy at times which can feel very overwhelming but there are ways to help us calm our minds.

Glitter Jar (Mind Jar)

This activity can support children (and adults) when there are feelings of overwhelm. It can also be a useful mindfulness breathing tool.

Materials needed:

• An empty jar or bottle with the label removed
• Different coloured glitter
• Water
  
  

Instructions:

1. Explain to your child that the different coloured glitters are like our different thoughts and feelings. Ask your child to think about the different thoughts and feelings they might have in a day.
   
   
2. Fill the jar with water.
   
   
3. Invite your child to put some of each coloured glitter into the jar and name the feeling or thought as the do this.
   
   
4. Put the lid on tight and get your child to shake the jar. Ask your child what they notice? Explain to your child that at different times in our life our minds can feel very busy, like this jar with lots of different feelings and thoughts (glitter) floating around.
   
   
5. Now ask your child to close their eyes, put their hands on their bellies and breathe in for 4 and out for 6, repeat this 5 times. (Alternatively they can do any breathing technique they prefer).
   
   
6. Ask your child to look at their mind jar/bottle and notice what has happened? Explain to your child that when we take time to breathe slowly, our minds become calmer, our thoughts and feelings (glitter) are still there but we can see clearer now.
   
   
7. Encourage this practice regularly with your child, using the jar as a visual at first and then the need to use the jar will become less and less as they will have mastered mindful breathing.

 

Use the Barnardos Reflective Journal Template as a family to reflect on how returning to school has gone and what you hope for the coming months.

Reflecting on our experiences is really important. It helps us understand what is going on for our children. Planning within the family for the coming months can be really useful too, it allows children to know what they can expect which helps them feel safe.

Recommended ages 6+

Download the Reflective Journal Template.

Here are some journal prompts for children to help them notice and feel gratitude daily.

When we feel gratitude in our lives we can truly appreciate and feel happy in ourselves.

Showing kindness to ourselves is just as important as showing it to others, in fact we need to show it to ourselves in order for us to know how to show it to others. Support your child with these daily acts of kindness.

Journal prompts:

Download and print our PDF template or read below (Tip: print in black and white to save on your ink).

Monday

• Journal prompt - What is your favourite thing to do with your family? Why are you grateful for them?
• Act of kindness - Give each member of your family a hug and remind them how much you love them.

 

Tuesday

• Journal prompt - What talent do you have that you are grateful for?
• Act of kindness - Tell someone today what they are good at.

 

Wednesday

• Journal prompt - What is one thing you love about yourself?
• Acts of kindness - Say the thing you love about yourself out loud, or into a mirror three times.

 

Thursday

• Journal prompt - Think about a time someone helped you. Send gratitude to that person.
• Acts of kindness - Choose 3 people to say thank you to today.

 

Friday

• Journal prompt - What’s your favourite Season? Why are you grateful for it?
• Acts of kindness - Think of a gift you received for Christmas that really made you smile, write a thank you note to the person for the gift and tell them why it made you smile.

 

Saturday

• Journal prompt - How do you cheer yourself up when you are feeling bad?
• Acts of kindness - Take 5 slow deep breaths.

 

Sunday

• Journal prompt - Think about one moment in 2020 that you are grateful for.
• Acts of kindness - Smile to yourself.

Listen to Barnardos Project Worker Aoife reading a very hungry caterpillar and follow along to the story.

Watch what happens to the Caterpillar at the end of the story. Can your children guess what happens to him?

Recommended for all ages.

Positive Self Talk is really important to practice. This Inspiration Stones activity helps us to remember what makes us happy, what we are grateful for and reminds us to think and say positive things about ourselves each day.

Follow our instructions below or download them and see how to decorate your own inspiration stones. Recommended for ages 3+

Instructions:

1. Collect stones of different shapes and sizes. It can be helpful to find stones with at least one smooth surface.
   
   
2. If the stones are dirty, rinse them off under running water and let dry.
   
   
3. You can decorate directly on the stone, or you can paint a base layer of white or other light coloured paint. Allow the base coat to dry.
   
   
4. Decorate your stones with words or sayings to remind you of things that bring you happiness and gratitude, or that might remind you to relax, or even positive affirmations about yourself. You can use pens, markers, glitter or paint to decorate your stones. Acrylic paint works great but poster paint works well too.
   
   
5. Let your stones dry.
   
   
6. If you wish, you can protect your stones and make them last longer by putting a final clear coat on – you can do this using clear nail varnish or even by brushing your finished stones with PVA glue. This is really important to do if you are going to place your stones outside.
   
   
7. Place your stones in places around your home or garden where you will see them and feel happy, grateful, calm or good about yourself!

Photo: Stones painted by 3 year old, 8 year old and their Mum.

Story time for the whole family! At a time when we can’t cuddle everyone we want to, listen here to one of our Project Workers Katherine reading us the Cuddle story and think about who you could cuddle in your imagination!

Recommended for all ages.