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Sapling MINDS

Teaching Children to Manage Stress

Equipping Them for Life’s Challenges



In today's fast-paced world, stress is an inevitable part of life, affecting everyone from adults to children. As parents, it's crucial to educate our children about stress, helping them understand its different types and how to manage it effectively.


The World Health Organization (WHO) defines stress as “a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives.” The Australian Psychological Society also highlights that "some stress can be helpful, motivating us to get a task finished, or spurring us to perform well." By teaching children to differentiate between good and bad stress and how to handle both, we can prepare them for life's inevitable challenges.


According to the Australian Psychological Society, there are different types of stress, each with its own impact on our health and wellbeing:


  1. Acute Stress: This is short-term stress that goes away quickly. You feel it when you slam on the brakes, have a fight with your partner, or ski down a steep slope. It helps you manage dangerous situations. It also occurs when you do something new or exciting. All people have acute stress at one time or another.

  2. Chronic Stress: This is stress that lasts for a longer period. You may have chronic stress if you have money problems, an unhappy marriage, or trouble at work. Any type of stress that goes on for weeks or months is chronic stress. You can become so used to chronic stress that you don’t realise it is a problem. If you don't find ways to manage stress, it may lead to health problems.

  3. Eustress: This is a positive form of stress that can motivate you to complete tasks and meet goals. Examples include starting a new job, moving to a new city, or preparing for a big event. Eustress helps us grow, adapt, and perform well.


Stress is the body's way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. When we sense danger, whether real or imagined, the body's defences kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response. This response can help us stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save our lives – giving us extra strength to defend ourselves or spurring us to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident.


Teaching children to manage stress is a crucial part of their development. By helping them understand the different types of stress and providing them with strategies to handle it, we can empower them to navigate life's challenges with confidence and resilience. It's essential to differentiate between good stress (eustress) and bad stress. Here are some examples and how to explain them to children:


  1. Good Stress (Eustress):

  • Example: Preparing for a school play or a sports competition.

  • Explanation: This type of stress can make you feel excited and motivated. It helps you focus, work hard, and achieve your goals.

  1. Bad Stress (Distress):

  • Example: Feeling overwhelmed with too much homework or dealing with bullying.

  • Explanation: This type of stress makes you feel anxious, upset, or unable to cope. It can affect your health and well-being if not managed properly.


Avoidance of stressful or challenging situations reinforces anxiety. When your child faces a stressful, challenging, or fearful situation, if this is not overcome, it can hold them back for a lifetime. Whereas those situations that are overcome, will have your child feeling like they can conquer the world and there is nothing they cannot do.


Your child should learn and understand that there are different types of stress, and that not all stress is bad. Teaching children about the different types of stress, and the impact on the body and mind, is essential for their overall wellbeing. It equips children with valuable life skills, fosters resilience, and encourages a positive mindset toward the inevitable challenges they will face.


Your child will receive many benefits from this learning, including improved emotional regulation, enhanced decision-making, healthy risk-taking, balanced work ethic, and prevention of the development of a harmful stigma that all stress is bad.



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