Are you interested in helping kids stay busy, feeling safe, and out of trouble? I put together this Coronavirus Kid Care Kit, some articles, links, and youtube videos. Please feel free to share this with anyone you know who wants help for kids in times of crisis.

Children with special needs and behavior problems stuck at home without structure can push their parents to the edge. If you need more help than what is below, get more detailed how-to streamed video course instructions indexed and broken down into small steps with quiz questions and supporting documents and templates. I am offering 50% courses and ebooks bringing the course price down to $13.50. simply type the word covid into the coupon code box in your cart as you are checking out to apply the discount. Courses overview.

Menu of offline at-home activities for kids:
https://intensivecareforyou.com/menu-of-offline-at…

How to talk to kids in crisis- developmentally appropriate ways of reassuring kids by age groups
https://intensivecareforyou.com/how-to-talk-to-kid…

Managing Kids Screen time, Video Games at Home Youtube

Coronavirus Behavior Problems Kids Stuck at Home Youtube

Behavior and Counseling Resources for Free webpage with documents and

mini-courses to help manage behavior and teach emotional control plus

more
https://intensivecareforyou.com/resources-for-free…

caregiver-stress-inventory Sometimes we forget to address the needs of the caregiver. Use this to identify needs.

how-can-a-caregiver-care-for-themselves

List of Affirmations to Calm Fears

• I trust that life supports me. I am safe.
• I am safe. I trust the process of life to bring only good to me.
• I am always safe and protected.
• I trust the universe to provide all that I need.
• I release all fears. I am safe.
• I trust the process of life to take me to my higher good. I am safe. All is well.
• I am ably supported by the universe.
• Life will always provide for me. It is safe here. All is well.
• No person has any power over me. I am free.

List of Affirmations for Anxiety

• All is well in my world.
• I am always safe and guided by my higher self.
• I lovingly allow change into my life and trust in my higher good.
• I am lovingly supported by the power that created me.
• I invite peace and harmony to dwell in me and surround me at all times.
• I trust my inner voice. I am at peace.

List of Affirmations to Promote Peace and Relaxation

• Divine peace and harmony surround me and dwell within me.
• I am relaxed and peaceful because I trust the process of life. All is well in my world.
• I release, I relax and let go. All is well in my world.
• I am becoming calmer with every deep breath that I take.
• I am calm and relaxed.
• I am at peace. I am calm. All is well.
• I relax completely for I now know I am safe. I trust life and I trust myself. I am cool, calm and collected.
• Every breath I inhale calms me and every breath I exhale takes away tension.
• I love myself deeply and unconditionally. Every cell in my body is relaxed and oozes calmness.
• As the wonderful, soothing energy of the Universe enters my body, I accept myself completely and deeply, without any reservations.
• I am confident about solving life’s problems successfully.
• I am social and I like meeting people.
• All is well in my world and I am safe.
• With every breath, I release the anxiety within me and I become more and more calm.
• The future is good. I look towards it with hope and happiness.
• Life is wonderful. I trust in God/Universe to live a well fulfilled life.
• I overcome my fear of anything and everything and live life courageously.
• I acknowledge that the only constant in life is change and am prepared for it.
• I am free of anxiety and continue to do so.
• I am capable of protecting and caring for myself.
• My best dreams are going to come true.

For more help for kids in times of crisis, I also recommend this book, Emotional First Aid for Children:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976320002/

I hope you stay safe and healthy!

Brad Mason, LPC, LPA, LSSP

PS Yes of course I am offering teletherapy to help kids in times of crisis via my practice site https://www.bradmasoncounselor.com/

Also don’t forget the 50% off coupon code for courses and books on this site is the word covid.

Garden of the Mind
Ten minute secret to eternal success:

Use this analogy to help kids in times of crisis by teaching the concept of how to change your feelings and behavior by changing thoughts, battle depression and anxiety, overcome obstacles, and create mental health.

Have you ever noticed how sometimes a garden has a fence around it? Why does it have a fence? Well, it’s there to keep the bad stuff out and the good stuff in, right? This is what fences are for. Fences are boundaries, keeping the good in and the bad out. Boundaries are something you create and maintain for protection. Good boundaries are a little flexible or permeable. Your cell walls are flexible boundaries, they let the good stuff in and keep the toxins out. Your skin is a boundary- they keep you inside; not you outside, they keep infectious bacteria out and let food and air in. Same thing with a fence, it still let’s air and water in for the garden to grow, but not deer and rabbits who will damage the garden.

Now, this all makes sense when we talk about a garden. For some reason, human beings tend to get this backwards when it comes to their thoughts. We tend to forget about all the stuff that is good and working right about ourselves and our lives, and focus, repeating over and over, negative thoughts, things we don’t like, what didn’t go well, what might go wrong, thoughts that cause us distress. Who is making those thoughts? Would it be helpful to have a conversation with the maker of our thoughts? Ask them to make thoughts of gratitude, review what feels good to think about, what is right about us, reassurance that we will be okay in the future, let go regrets of the past?

If we are to care for our mind, care for ourselves, like a good gardener would lovingly tend their garden, we would cast out the negative thoughts, the unwanted thoughts, the bugs and parasites, like weeds being thrown outside the fence of a garden.

Continuing to repeat and believe your negative thoughts is like watering the weeds in your garden instead of pulling them out. They grow fast and pretty soon, they crowd out all the good stuff and you will notice how prickly and uncomfortable they are. They will crowd out all the fruits and vegetables you truly desire.

If you like watermelon, and you would like watermelon to grow in your garden so you can enjoy it, what would you need to first do? Plant watermelon seeds, right? Okay, so that’s easy in a garden, just stick the seeds in the ground, pay attention to them by watering them and pulling the weeds, and watch what happens. Watermelons appear like magic for you to harvest, and oh, how sweet!

The process of making what you want to be true in your experience of reality is much the same. How do you plant the seeds of what you want to grow in the garden of your mind and your life? You begin by deciding what you want. You get as clear as you can about what you want, and you create a clear vision of what it looks like, feels like, how will your experience be different when your dreams come true?

I suggest creating a dream book. See the document I created for you called “Dream Book.” It’s in the free resources page on this site, or you can get the ebook with inspiring images and instructions. Get a nice book, preferably leather bound so it’s durable and can last, and write a dream you have on each page. Not a dream from when you are sleeping, but a dream that is a waking wish you have for yourself and your world. Then get images from magazines, photographs, or google images that best matches how your dream looks to you. Print it and paste it or tape it below the text you wrote about your dream. It’s okay if you pick two or three images. Every night before you go to sleep, and in the morning when you wake up, take a few minutes to look at the images and read through your dreams. Practice feeling how it would feel, as if the dream were already true. Know that these things will happen, that they are already happening. This is how you plant the seeds of what you want to grow in the garden of your mind, and this will help you make your dreams come true. Not sure if you believe me? Try it for two weeks and see what happens. What do you have to lose? Your fears and unwanted thoughts?

I also suggest after a week or two that you go back and rewrite dreams in the present tense. Rather than “I want to feel secure most of the time,” “I am feeling secure most of the time,” instead of “I want to make a million dollars,” “I am making a million dollars.”

Sometimes I ask people if they have heard the phrase “train of thought.” If they are kids they may have seen the movie “Shark Boy and Lava Girl.” which has a train of thought, literally, in it. Once they understand what train of thought means, I ask them where they are on their thought train. Are they in the caboose, just along for the ride, a victim of whatever thought their brain comes up with? Or are they the conductor or engineer, up in the engine of the train, able to slow down, stop, speed up, or change tracks if they don’t like where they are going? Where would they like to be?

When we want abundant produce we prepare the soil, pull the weeds and throw them out, and plant the seeds of the good things we want to see, feel, smell, and taste.

Your mind is like this garden, too. Except sometimes we get confused and keep the good thoughts out and the bad in. Tend the garden of your mind carefully, pull the weeds of negative, fearful, and unhelpful thoughts, and throw them outside the fence. Plant the seeds of your dreams and hopes, thoughts that feel good, by taking a few moments daily to reflect on your dreams and imagine them coming true in as much detail as you can. If a drought comes give them more water. If a freeze comes don’t lie in a bed of weeds and despair, pull out those weeds and plant some new seeds. Keep it up and you can’t help but be successful living in the garden of your dreams.

A few more links to help kids in times of crisis:

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Pages/Responding-to-Childrens-Emotional-Needs-During-Times-of-Crisis.aspx

If you have more good ideas or resources about how to help kids in times of crisis please feel free to share and I may add them here. bradmasonlpc@aol.com