Grandchildren suffer too when their grandparent is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The bond between a grandchild and a grandparent often is a loving and stabilizing force in a young person’s development. When this relationship changes drastically, as is the case in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, it can be especially threatening to a child or adolescent.

There are now 5.3 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s. Many diagnosed with the disease are grandparents. Families are faced with an emotional trauma when they are dealing with a loved one with the disease, because of the deteriorating changes in memory, thinking, and behavior. Recently, there has been attention to supporting caregivers, such as spouses or grown children. This is clearly a step forward in the treatment of the disease, which does not just affect the patient, but entire families as well.

Grandchildren need attention too. After all, these youngsters may be losing someone they could always count on to play games, discuss sports, celebrate birthdays, bake cookies, or listen attentively about school achievements. For many children, this may be their first experience with loss, and it is being played out slowly over time. What is also upsetting for young people is that the family is dealing with stress and the child’s parent might not be as readily available. During this time, kids often worry about their own parents as well as other family members. Some youngsters may experience this as a childhood trauma and have trouble adjusting to their day-to-day routines.

You may want to find resources to get your child help with feelings of sadness, worry, and fear, all understandable reactions when a grandparent is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. There is a new approach to teaching children skills to deal with these tough situations. The Build Up Your Resilience Tool Kit for Kids™ strengthen kids in difficult times by teaching 20 powerful resilience skills. Children and teens in grades K-12 learn thinking and behavior strategies to cope with change and loss, deal with worries about grown-ups, and stay connected with others. These are only a few of the resilience tools in the Tool Kit, which come in two editions, one for children 5 to 11, and the other for young people ages 11 to 18. Losing a grandparent to Alzheimer’s is difficult. Resilience tools can help grandchildren with this profound loss.

Bookmark to:

It’s been nearly 11 years since Columbine. Many young people in high school and middle school today do not know about the massacre at Columbine on April 20, 1999. They may be vaguely familiar with the shootings at Virginia Tech, and in their minds may dismiss this horrific incident since it was in a college setting. Young people will inevitably learn about Columbine, a suburban high school setting with a low likelihood of violence, and may ask, Could this happen in my school?

Even though extreme violence is rare, violence in all schools is still cause for alarm and not just limited to inner-city schools. Every year in the United States, there are 3 million crimes on school grounds, 9,000 fires, and hundreds of thousands of students who are injured. Recent annual reports indicate that 1.5 million students ages 12 to 18 have been victims of non-fatal crimes, such as theft and fighting. In high school, 10% of all boys and 5% of all girls have been threatened with a weapon. Bullying and threats of violence happen at the following rates – 21% of all elementary school children, 43% of middle school youngsters, and 22% of high school students.

Despite the many efforts to prevent school violence and keep kids safe at school, these events still occur and leave many young people dealing with stress and emotional trauma. Direct victims of attack often feel depressed, angry, terrified, and sometimes ashamed. Young people who witness violence or hear about it at their school, often called secondary victims, also suffer. These youngsters report feelings of anxiety, worry, and insecurity.

There is a new and effective approach to helping teenagers and children cope with the childhood trauma of violence. Learning resilience skills is an essential way to empower children after a traumatic event, such as violence. The Build Up Your Resilience Tool Kit for Kids™ teaches skills to young people in grades K-12 who have been dealing with conflict and violence. Direct victims of violence as well as secondary victims of attacks can have flashbacks, bad dreams, and hopelessness about their future. The Build Up Your Resilience™ Tool Kit provides activities for children and teens to help them deal with these concerns in an accurate and hopeful manner. Also included are powerful strategies to manage intense feelings of sadness, anger, fear, and guilt, all understandable reactions to violent events.

The Build up Your Resilience Tool Kit for Kids™ comes in two editions. The High School/Middle School Edition is specifically designed to teach high school and middle skills, using language and concepts that young people can easily learn, understand, and remember. The Elementary School version teaches elementary school skills in a way that make sense to younger children, ages 5 to 11.

Bookmark to:

Parents worry about the impact of divorce on their children. The divorce process can be an emotional trauma for children, involving physical separation from one parent, legal proceedings, visitation and custody negotiations, monetary concerns, and sometimes moving and re-locating. Even after the divorce is completed, children coping with divorce are faced with new challenges, such as introduction of parent’s love interest, and perhaps a new marriage, blended family arrangements, or birth of a new sibling. Any or all of these can be tinged with pain, sadness, anger, or behavior problems for the children involved.

Every year, over one million more children in the United States will be dealing with stress as a result of divorce. At least 40% of all children will be part of a divorcing family before turning 18. Many parents are concerned about the short-term and long-term effects of divorce on their children. Overall, research shows many emotional, social, and academic problems in the early stages of divorce. There are mixed results about long-term effects regarding children and divorce. Research consistently indicates that high-stress divorces, dealing with conflict and frequent legal maneuverings result in a poor outcome for children.

A key factor in determining children’s favorable adjustment during and after divorce is resilience. Resilience helps young people bounce back from the worst of times. Resilient children accommodate to change and handle overwhelming feelings of grief, guilt, and anger. Fortunately, resilience skills can be learned.

There is a new and effective method for teaching resilience skills to children and teenagers. The Build Up Your Resilience Tool Kit for Kids™ helps young people in grades K-12 develop thinking and behaving skills to cope with the many changes and childhood trauma associated with divorce. Kids learn tools to manage feelings of over-responsibility, sadness, and anger – all very common reactions in divorce. There are also tools to help kids coping with divorce feel hopeful and confident about their future. Children who learn these resilience skills are able to manage the emotional difficulties of divorce and have fewer behavior problems than children who are not resilient.

The Build Up Your Resilience™ tool kit comes in two editions, one for elementary school children ages 5 to 11, and the other for high school and middle school teens, ages 11 to 18. Give your children skills, which will strengthen their resilience and help them adjust before, during, and after divorce.

Tool Kits for Kids LLC
www.toolkitsforkids.com

Bookmark to: