Read The Room
Recently I gave a presentation about fear and other emotions to the Home School Assist of Montana’s students ranging from ages 5–14 entitled “Read The Room”. After a brief greeting and introduction as well as ice-breaking activities, we rolled over into spin the emotion wheel to figure out how we feel. Next, we looked at a larger wheel to see how many shades of an emotion there were called Happy, or Sad.
We then turned to fears and what we are personally afraid of. To break the ice I held up pictures and words of things that we fear such as, slugs, no Wi-Fi, water. One little girl said she was afraid of Tarantulas, another of being alone, drowning. A little one asked me: “What are you afraid of, Mistofuh Cwistopher?”
I honestly said: “Deep down I’m a little nervous of saying my fear out loud because of…you know. If we say it out loud, it may come true.”
The response on all my little zoom screens were bright smiles and laughs. But I bit the lip and said it out loud: “I never really ever liked clowns. I mean really. Why are they smiling all the time? Ca-reee Peee.” (Just pronounce it phonetically and you will understand)
We discussed the need to be aware of how we feel and recognize emotions in ourselves and others. We also discussed the importance of checking in with ourselves and seeing if we can at least put a word to how we feel and always, always, always talk about what we feel to our parents and guardian we trust. We ended it with Storytime - a read of “Talk About The Monster”. We “read” each room of the story as we observed what was said and what was felt, examining the pictures and identifying the emotions of the various characters in the story.
A point of interest is that while our little ones still may be dealing with the fears and anxieties they have acquired through the time period before 2020, the past two years have not eased the flow of anxieties pouring out of world conditions and developments. A study by the JAMA institute that stated during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 in 4 youth globally is experiencing clinically elevated depression symptoms while 1 in 5 youth is experiencing clinically elevated anxiety symptoms.* The study also brought out that, while our older children may be in tune with the stress of their parents and guardians and can inference the results of the current global pandemic, even younger children may sense and recognize the adjustments and changes in their routine which could also affect their anxiety levels.
The study also brought out that these anxiety levels will affect the rise of the use of mental health care utilization and steps need to be taken to divert resources to that end. It made me think of the words of one of the revered elders of one Indigenous American People, Lakota Tatanka Iyotake: “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” (Sitting Bull)
We have a project ahead of us in easing the pressure valve of anxiety.
What have you noticed with your children or your students anxiety levels? Comment below
*Citation
Racine N, McArthur BA, Cooke JE, Eirich R, Zhu J, Madigan S. Global Prevalence of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Children and Adolescents During COVID-19: A Meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2021;175(11):1142–1150. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2482 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/278279