Childhood can be a stressful time. Hopefully, this can be balanced by periods of relaxation. Parents need to help children with daily pressures and restore some balance.

Stress can be caused by: a shift from the known to the unknown, familiar to unfamiliar; situations that offer a challenge over which the child feels no control; major life changes - passage from early childhood to school age, birth of a sibling, divorce, moving, death; a change in nursery school membership, admonishment by a teacher, or death of a classmate's relative - are examples of less obvious changes that may produce stress; pressure from parents to excel - or peer pressure to fit in are also causes of stress.

What can parents do to help children manage stress?

1. Provide lots of attention and physical affection when the child is an infant. Touching your baby is one of the most important things for good psychological health.

2. Take every opportunity to build your child's self-esteem and competence. Resilient children get opportunities to feel satisfaction of accomplishment. Provide child with protected freedom in which they can struggle to achieve success and test their sense of competence.

3. Be willing to lower expectations - focus on the satisfaction an activity gives the child, not the performance.

4. Make yourself available to listen to your child's account of the days experiences - find out how they felt about the day , as well as what they accomplished .

5. School is an environment of unrelenting scrutiny and a child needs to prove their competence.

6. Monitor how your child is coping with stress.

7. Demonstrate to your child that they are an asset and vital part of the family.

8. Help your child to develop many resources - spiritual, social, and physical.

9. Encourage the development of talents and interests and networks of friends to serve as buffers to stress.

10. Teach your child self-protective responses. For example: if you are moving to a new neighborhood, talk with your child and steer thinking to new possibilities - new playground, or new swing to hang in the back yard.

11. Use open communication and problem solving -- after discussing you may be able to offer ways to cope.

12. Evaluate your child's schedule of activities often . Provide chances to choose how time will be spent.

13. Aches and pains such as headaches, stomach aches are sometimes caused by stress. Discuss ways to relieve such pain with your doctor.

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