Healthy Parent: Healthy Child

Parents face the task of not only making their own adjustment to a new country successful, but also easing their children’s adaptation to the new school and environment. The impact of the parents’ own adjustment process on the children can be tremendous.

Making sure we take care of ourselves in our own adjustment is crucial, both to serve as a role model and to refill and re-energize ourselves so that we can help our children move through their adjustment process.

Taking care of ourselves can mean being aware of our own process of adjustment, knowing our signs of stress, and using the stress management techniques that work best for us. 

Here are some techniques that you can try:

1. Take control. Develop long and short term goals that are realistic and attainable in an international setting.
2. Eat healthy, exercise and be merry. Get involved in activities you enjoy. Maintain a good sense of humor about the many mistakes you may make in adjusting to a new culture.
3. Avoid stress by managing your time efficiently. Set priorities and alternate between fun and challenging activities.
4. Get to know your new home by reading, making friends with ‘cultural informants,’ learning the language, and getting out.
5. Say no. When the demands get to be too much, decline invitations, decrease activities and give yourself a refill break.
6. Take care of your family by listening, hugging, understanding and being there.

Often as parents we become so focused on caring for our children that we neglect ourselves, putting our needs and feelings last on the list of things to consider. Denying your own needs in the transition process is not only unhealthy for you, but unhealthy for other family members too.