The work of Donna Shea and Nadine Briggs #anxiety #kids #sociachallenges #mad #worried

How to Make & Keep Friends: Tips for Kids to Overcome 50 Common Social Challenges

This book is a handy reference guides that provides kids with friendship tips and social skills advice presented in a top ten list format. Simple tips for the most common social challenges are included, such as:

• How to Make New Friends at School
• How to Safely Handle Angry Feelings
• Attending Parties
• How to Share Fairly
• Being a Good Play Date Guest and Host
• Working in a Group
• … and much more!

How to Make & Keep Friends: Helping Your Child Achieve Social Success

Our second book is a how-to manual to support your child in attaining, maintaining and sustaining improved social skills and lasting friendships.  The easy-to-read format clearly outlines common barriers that may be hindering your child’s social success with actionable coaching tips and suggested language for you as a parent to use to provide support to your child and improve his or her success at social interactions.

Parents play a key role in the formation of friendships and How to Make & Keep Friends: Helping Your Child Achieve Social Success explains how to guide your child toward finding true and meaningful connections.

I Feel Mad: Tips for Kids on Managing Angry Feelings

by Donna Shea and Nadine Briggs

The How to Make and Keep Friends books are known for providing quick, easy tips for kids that help them with managing their feelings as well as developing friendships.   I Feel Mad: Tips for Kids on Managing Angry Feelings is based on the one-of-a-kind “Getting the Mads Out” skill-based workshop that has helped many children learn to manage their angry feelings over the last decade.

I Feel Mad: Tips for Kids on Managing Angry Feelings contains full color illustrations by artist Ryan Flynn.  The beautiful images further enhance the effective tips and make the workbook a must-have for kids who struggle with anger issues.

In the new anger workbook, children will learn:

• the anger rule to follow and what they may or may not do when they are feeling angry;
• that anger is a normal emotion we all have and that managing anger appropriately is a critical life skill;
• how to identify the physical sensations of anger and implement strategies before it becomes too hot to handle;
• a menu of safe strategies to choose from when angry situations arise; and
• effective problem solving skills and specific reactions to replace an angry response.

• Donna Shea, Director of the Peter Pan Center, and Nadine Briggs, Director of Simply Social Kids, are passionate about helping kids make and keep friends. They have dedicated themselves to working with children who experience mild to moderate social difficulties to foster positive social skills and interactions.

I Feel Worried! Tips for Kids on Overcoming Anxiety

By Nadine Briggs and Donna Shea

The I Feel Worried workbook provides simple, actionable and proven tips to help kids manage anxious feelings. In this workbook, your child will learn: • that anxiety is a normal and sometimes necessary emotion we all experience; • how to understand and label feelings; • how to identify the physical sensations of anxiety and implement strategies before the fear becomes too strong; • calming exercises to choose when anxiety-provoking situations arise; • effective coping skills and specific strategies to manage anxiety; • that he or she has the power to overcome anxious thoughts and become an expert worry ninja. How to Make & Keep Friends, LLC provides the following resources • The How to Make & Keep Friends Books and Workbooks • Bullying Prevention, Facilitated Recess Programs and School Observations • Professional Development Seminars • Workshops for Children and Parents Shea and Briggs consult with families, school systems, and community organizations to improve the social and emotional lives of children everywhere. The important thing is, you really should not let the worries win. You may not feel as though you are stronger than your worries, but you really and truly are!

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I think these books are amazing.  They are very important and relevant.  With all the stresses that kids face it is important to have resources to help them work through all the emotions and social challenges that cause them stress.  One of my sons struggles with anxiety and the other with maintaining emotions.  These books have been great in bridging communication and as an aide to help my kids work through their struggles.  They are filled with ideas, activities and talking points.  I think these are a must for all parents.

How to Help Your Anxious Child

Donna Shea & Nadine Briggs

As a parent, if you understand what causes stress in kids and the signs of anxiety in your own child, you can help him or her manage the emotion rather than feeling forced to discipline in those moments when your child locks down, has a need for control and when the urge to yell and threaten comes to the forefront.

What does stress look like in children? Increased anxiety in children can present as:

Increased bouts of anger or lower frustration tolerance;

Misbehavior, meltdowns and difficulties in school;

Refusal to do what we have asked of them and refusing to go to school;

Seeking more adult reassurance and being overly shy;

Physical ailments such as stomachaches and headaches or insomnia;

Increased whining, tearfulness and irritability; and

Increased sibling issues and fights.

What things can be stressors for children? There are many, but here are a few:

Routines that are disrupted or a lack of routine;

Food choices and meal times;

Crowded, noisy environments;

Having to wear uncomfortable clothes or other sensory based challenges;

School, tests and other academic pressures;

Social situations, communication and conversation and peer relationships

Here is how you can help support your anxious child.

Identify & Strategize - What are your child’s anxiety triggers? Help your child understand what he or she is feeling and why. Once children know how to identify what stress feels like for them, they can begin to strategize on how to overcome the anxiety.

Acknowledge – Empathize with and explain to your child what he or she is experiencing. Put a name to what is causing the stress. Say things to your child such as, “I think that the crowds at the mall might be too much today” or “I know it’s tough to sit through such a long test.”

Accommodate – What can be let go of or changed? Can you have a mom’s helper stay with the child while you shop? Can you talk to the teacher about planned movement breaks during the test?

Adapt – Help your child develop coping strategies for when things can’t be changed. Our book, I Feel Worried! Tips for Kids on Overcoming Anxiety contains many different tips and ideas. Create a plan for what to do if a child starts to feel overwhelmed.

If your child is struggling, you cannot hurt anything by using the assumption that he or she is experiencing increased stress or anxiety. Putting a name on what your child is experiencing, developing strategies to address the root of the problem and making accommodations where and when they make sense, can help you help your child learn positive coping skills and become an expert “worry ninja.”

Donna Shea, Founder of the Peter Pan Center for Social and Emotional Growth and Nadine Briggs, Director of Simply Social Kids are authors of the How to Make and Keep Friends book and workbook series. Briggs and Shea specialize in coaching and creating simple tips and language for kids with social and emotional learning challenges.

Connect with Briggs and Shea on www.howtomakeandkeepfriends.com, Twitter, and Facebook.