Coping

In reviewing the text on coping with stress there seems to be a very long list of ways that people can, and do, deal with stressful situations. Anywhere from confrontation to avoidance to everything in between we have a box full of tools to draw from. Time to go to class....will be back to finish.
Okay, back from class. The text has about 30 pages on stress and its effects. It is interesting that the text has also dedicated about the same number of pages on coping. On to the subject.....while raising children parents have the power to regulate the stress in their lives to a great degree. This power usually begins to weaken over time as the kids get older and begin "finding their way" through dealing with situations that might bring on stress. At least when the kids are still in their formative years we as parents can, and should, seek ways to maintain stability in our children's lives while at the same time deal with the influences/pressures that we have to deal with in our own lives. By providing for the emotional needs of our children early on in life they will have a better chance of effectively dealing with issues on their own later on in life. Do we as parents fail at this? From time to time. This is not to say that we are going to lead our children down the "easy" road. One way of strengthening their constitution is to show them how to work through a situation as opposed to avoiding all together.

I suppose as to why my short comment here on coping is regarding children is that I believe coping skills should begin to be developed early in our life in order for us to be able to effectively deal with times of stress later on. In order to cope we may use avoidance, become emotional-charges and lash out, internalize and blame ourselves, turn to alcohol or drugs to take the edge off, seek professional council, talk with a friend, exercise, immerse ourselves in to a hobby, etc. There are a lot of good and not-so-good ways of coping. Regardless, the means that we use can be critical to our success in dealing with the issue. Didn't spell check this nor proof read it.