Pause & Regulate: Nervous System Reset for Overwhelmed Parents
Feeling overwhelmed by a child’s meltdown or tough parenting moment? You’re not alone. This quick 2.5-minute video, led by Andrea Gibson (OT & Clinical Director at TCS), guides you through simple, science-backed nervous system regulation exercises designed specifically for parents and caregivers to help you learn how to stay calm during a child’s meltdown.
Quick Calming Exercises for Parenting Stress
When parenting gets tough, it’s easy to feel flooded by big emotions. These practical tools help you reset, ground yourself, and handle challenging moments with more calm and confidence.
In this video, you’ll learn:
- How to quickly ground yourself using your senses
- Simple movement and breathing techniques to calm your nervous system
- How to send your brain signals of safety to make emotions more manageable
Try these steps whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed:
- Notice three things in the room that are blue
- Find one item that reminds you of a happy memory
- Switch between a thumbs up and peace sign with your hands to reconnect with your body
- Take three deep, guided breaths using the physiologic sigh technique
Repeat as needed—these exercises are always here for you.
Why Parent Regulation Matters During Meltdowns
Taking a moment to pause and regulate helps you stay present, patient, and connected with your child—even during meltdowns. When you model self-regulation, you’re teaching your child valuable tools for managing their own big feelings.
More Resources for Parenting Support
- See more quick videos and tips in our Parent Resource Center
- 1:1 Parent coaching sessions
- Occupational therapy services
Looking for more help? Bookmark this page or share with another caregiver who could use a moment of calm.
Video transcript:
[00:00:00] All right. First, let’s look around the room and see if you can find three things that are blue.
Got those? Okay. Now keep looking around the room, and this time we’re gonna look for one thing that reminds you of a happier moment. It could be a toy or a stuffy that reminds you of a funny memory with your child. Could be a photo of a trip that you took. It could be a nice empty coffee cup that reminds you how delicious your coffee was this morning.
Anything at all that just reminds you of a happier, more peaceful moment. Okay? Okay. Once you’ve got that, give me a thumbs up with one hand and a peace sign with the other hand, and we’re gonna switch back and forth. Between those two movements. [00:01:00] Doesn’t matter if you make a mistake, we’re just gonna keep switching back and forth.
This is just helping our brain reconnect with our body
and be a little bit less overwhelmed by the emotions of the moment.
Keep going just a few more seconds.
All right. We’re gonna finish with a nice deep breath in through your nose. Pause. Don’t breathe out yet in again through your nose and now out through your mouth with a little bit of sound. Let’s do that again. In pause in again and out,
and one more.[00:02:00]
Hopefully you’re starting to feel a little bit more equipped to manage the moment that brought you here. If not, go ahead and go through those again. Okay. These are all little exercises to just help send our brain signals of safety, help it come back into the moment. Help make those emotions feel a little bit more manageable.
All right. Like I said, feel free to repeat this if you need it. You got this.