Animals and protective figures

And finally, in this series of resources to use with children, is the use of animals and protective figures. The last few blog posts have been about how to help children with their big, scary feelings. Teaching children how to breathe and relax is one way. Then we learnt about creating a safe and calm place in their minds - a place they can retreat to when anxious or worried. Thirdly we discussed making an actual container out of every day objects, like empty tissue boxes, to put their worries . Please go and check out those blog posts if you haven’t already and let me know what you think.

This blog post is about inviting an animal and or a protective figure in to help children when they are in a heightened state. Children can be taught to bring up an image of their favorite animal/pet to connect with. Or they can be taught to imagine mum/dad or another protective figure (could be a super hero) coming in to help and support them.

While relaxed and in a good mood, children are asked to think about a loved pet or a protect as they breathe. They can imagine what they like. It could be that their dog is licking their face or that the super hero is flying in through the window. They’re only limited by their own imagination. The key thing to remember is that they need to practice this enough, that when they need to, they can call the image to mind quickly. In time of stress, they’re able to conju up their safety images, thereby feeling immediately more calm.

The beauty of this technique is that no one needs to know what a child is doing. So this is a great skill to learn in a social situation, such as at school or in the playground.

And a little secret... adults can use this tool as well.