Coping Faster Than A Speeding Bullet!
If I had to choose a super power that I could have, it would definitely be SUPER COPING SKILLS!
Sure, flying or having x-ray vision may be pretty cool. If I needed to get somewhere fast or look at something from far away, these might be great. However, the ability to cope in any situation would be pure magic!
Every human gets into situations where they feel they may not be able to cope. There are so many times in everybody’s life when they interact with something or someone in someplace, that they feel they just can’t deal with. These are the times that I would use my super power. I would confront the situation, ready for battle and I’d get through it unscathed.
If I had an IT problem because my device was acting up and I was frustrated? Super Coping Skills to the rescue…I’d stop, breathe, notice my feelings and respond calmly. Problem fixed! Or, if a person cut me off while I was driving and it upset me? Super coping skills to the rescue…Again, I’d stop, breathe, notice my feelings and respond calmly.
Pure mindful magic!
Many of the kid’s books I write are about coping skills through mindfulness. Based on my own experiences, those of my children and from the extensive research I’ve done on these topics, no one person can have too many skills in coping with their life. Usually, we hope to gain a lot of our abilities to cope during our childhood. From our parents, siblings, friends and teachers, we gather little tidbits on how to deal with most of life’s situations.
"Humans are born with instinctive coping IMPULSES, but we have to learn coping SKILLS."(1)
The basics of coping skills we obtain from observing those around us, trial and error, education and other forms of social conditioning. As we grow, we hope to develop even more skills, as our life becomes more complicated, busy and stressful. Eventually, towards the end of our life, we have it all figured out and have mastered the art of coping, right?
Who knows! What we do know is that a child, if taught a proper set of coping skills early on, can use the basis of these skills, throughout their life to manage just about anything!
Our ability to effectively cope with challenges and upsets requires learning and practicing these skills, so they can become everyday coping tools. Just learning about these principles is not enough. Coping skills become stronger the more we use them to overcome challenging experiences.(2)
So, essentially, our coping skills improve and become stronger if we use them everyday to overcome stressful situations. We all have stress in our every day and some of us deal with it more effectively than others. We all want to get through these situations no matter what though, so why wouldn’t we practice using our coping tools, so they’ll be sharp when we need them? More importantly, why wouldn’t we want every kid to have a chance at learning the necessary skills, so they can cope and continue to deal better and better in every situation they face too?
Coping is a necessary tool in our lives. If we are unable to cope, this causes problems with our brain and the healthy functioning of our entire body. More coping skills should be taught in schools, don’t you think? We only have one brain and I’m going to strengthen mine by focusing on learning more effective ways to cope in everyday situations. I don’t have to be a super hero, but this skill is far more valuable to me instead of wasting that space in my brain with irrelevant subjects like…algebra and geometry! Yuck!
Tracy Bryan is a self-published author for kids aged 2-11. She writes whimsical picture books about emotions, self-esteem, values and coping skills. Tracy also likes to tackle social issues and speak directly to her readers about important topics that affect everyone.
Tracy lives in Central Florida with her family and two dogs Jack and Rusty! Please visit Tracy's website tracybryan.com or email her at tracy@tracybryan.com
(1 & 2) Adapted from copingskills4kids.net