How to Ground Your Kids The Right Way
As a parent we’re always looking for ways to help our kids. Now even if you don’t have any kids, this still applies to you. Read on and see why you need to ground YOURSELF and your kids right now.
You might be thinking this has to do with discipline.
And it does. But probably not the discipline you’re thinking of.
Let’s get one thing straight– life is stressful. As an adult you might realize that you had it pretty good ‘back in the day’ where your stresses were slightly smaller, and more manageable. However, stress is all relative to the individual. So even though we look back and think, “Wow, I had it good…” we need to remember that the reason that the past seems “easier” now, is because our point of reference has changed.
You have stress. Your kids have stress. The idea that one person’s stress is easier or more manageable is not always the case.
When stress builds up, emotions run high and we can become more volatile and less rational. Living in a state of stress causes a decrease in your ability to fight illness, it causes acne, hair loss, irregular appetite, and an increase in heart attack and stroke risk.
As we age we experience and learn how to manage our stress. Then things like two hours of homework and a mid-term paper seem easy, and even preferable to adults, but can be the cause of overwhelming amounts teenage stress. Experience in life helps us consciously gage, reduce, and even override our stress response.
Another very helpful way to reduce stress in yourself and your kids is through a good grounding.
Grounding is also called Earthing. It is a simple way to decrease stress and tension, while energizing and detoxifying the body. Not only is grounding helpful in clearing mental stress, it LITERALLY will decrease your stress hormones (specifically cortisol) in your body and allow you to be healthier.
How to Ground Yourself or Your Kids
- Set aside 10-15 minutes in your day
- Kick off your shoes and socks
- Walk on barefoot on grass, soil, or sand
- Breathe
- Smile
- Repeat
Every day after work, there is nothing that stops me from kicking off my shoes and socks and heading straight outside to be with my kids in our garden, or running around on the grass. The health benefits are too great to NOT do this.
(The picture above has up in our office for quite some time as a healthy reminder for grounding)
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What do you do in the winter?
So of course this is difficult because true grounding is when your feet come in contact with the earth, not just hardwood floor, carpet or cement. There is still benefit in doing this, but if you’re serious about grounding year round, you can always buy a grounding mat at www.earthing.com. They also have grounding sheets, pillowcases and computer mats.