Help Your Kids Handle Stressful Situations
WITH THESE SENSORY-RICH ACTIVITIES
You can see it happening, almost in slow motion: Your child goes from playing and laughing to frowning in less than a second. They start to cry, and suddenly, a meltdown is underway. Is this just the way raising young kids is? Does a lack of sleep, change in routine, or intense hunger always have to lead to a meltdown? While it’s human to feel emotions and express them, you can use certain strategies to help your child navigate major emotions and calm down. The key is helping them tap into their central nervous system with activities that engage their senses. Just like adults, younger kids sometimes need support to regulate their emotions, especially in situations that are stressful for them. That’s where activities that engage the five senses can be really beneficial. Sensory activities that utilize the five senses can help your little one connect their body to their immediate surroundings and the larger world around them.
Here are some sensory-rich activities that can help kids feel calmer in stressful times:
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Make a pile of pillows and jump into it.
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Put on some fun music and dance.
• Bounce your little one on your lap or an exercise ball.
• Take them for a spin around the house in a box or laundry basket; kids can even race each other.
• Create a slide by propping a mattress or exercise mat against the couch.
These are activities you can use right where you are to help your child find their calm again, even in a meltdown. According to early childhood development expert Alyssa Blask Campbell, sensory input stays in the system for about two hours, meaning even just five minutes of these types of activities can give you and your child hours of calm throughout the day.
A Dental Myth Busted What Really Happens When You Remove a Back Tooth?
1. Overloading: When you are missing a tooth on one side of the mouth, you end up overloading the other side of the mouth. This puts extra strain on the jaw and teeth opposite of the removed tooth. Over a long period of time, you can wear down and damage teeth on the “complete” side. This will require treatment to fix, which may include the removal of more teeth. 2. Drifting: Once a tooth is removed, the adjacent teeth will try to close the gap because our teeth are always in dynamic movement and only stop moving when they meet with another tooth. This will cause a major collapse in our bite, which could be very hard to recover from over the years, and it can end up causing us to lose more teeth. We see older patients who have had several teeth removed because they overloaded their healthy teeth in their youth. It can be traced to the removal of that first tooth because they thought it wasn’t a big deal. In the end, a tooth removal can leave you with more problems than when you started, including a large bill. If you experience tooth decay or damage, it’s important to explore other options in order to save your existing teeth. Removing a tooth should be a last option.
Myth: Removing back teeth is not a big deal.
Fact: It’s complicated. When we see patients, especially younger patients, with a damaged back tooth, they often decide to have the tooth removed rather than repaired or restored because they don’t think removing a back tooth (a premolar or molar) is a big deal. After all, you cannot see these teeth when you smile, and people often value appearance over function. In the short term, removing a back tooth is not a major issue. However, in the long term, you can face serious consequences, including the need to remove more teeth, ongoing pain, and continued costs. Here’s why: When you have a back tooth removed, whether due to infection, damage, or severe overcrowding, you can create new problems.
2 — SignatureSmilesOH.com
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