Being a parent is stressful. Increasingly, being a child is as well. One of the skills we need to teach our children is how to cope—with setbacks, with disappointment, with feeling overwhelmed, and more. Coping skills are an essential part of becoming a resilient person who can deal with life’s ups and downs.

To help you teach your child how to handle difficult times, iMomhas a list of essential coping skills for kids. Most of these are simple strategies that you can teach your child to use when things get hard. Among them are:

• Breathe
• Create art
• Talk it out
• Take a break
• Get the negative energy OUT
• Problem solve
• Squeeze the lemons
• Remember
• Ask for a hug

Every child is different, so not every coping skill works for every child. Find the ones that work best for your child. You can get the details on the skills listed above and more in the iMom article.

You might have obsessively read the What to Expect When You’re Expectingbook when your first child was on the way. Perhaps you’ve used PTA’s Parents’ Guides to Student Successto be informed about what your child will be learning each year and what questions you should ask your child’s teacher. As your child grows, having an idea of what’s coming up can make you a better parent.

One of the areas where parents may not be too sure what to expect is their child’s annual checkup. Kids’ Health has a series of guides in both Englishand Spanishabout what to expect at each checkup from birth to age 21. The guides provide information on:

• What your doctor should be doing and asking about.
• What to keep in mind until your child’s next checkup.
• What your child should be learning to as they grow and mature.
• What safety issues you should be aware of for that age.

Check out the guide for your child’s next checkup and bookmark the listso you have it handy next time your child is in the examining room. Share the guides for the older years with your teen or young adult to help take some of the fear out of their next visit.

Photo © 2015 by Greens MPsunder Creative Commons license.

It’s a powerless feeling as a parent—your child is being excluded from a group at school, often a group they’ve been friends with for years. That exclusion is a form of bullying known as relational aggression, and can occur online and in person. It can include gossiping, spreading rumors, public humiliation, alliance building, and social isolation. But unlike physical bullying or verbal harassment, it can be hard to spot.

According to a survey by The Ophelia Project, 48% of students in grades 5 through 12 are regularly involved in or witness relational aggression. Students between the ages of 11 and 15 report being exposed to 33 acts of relational aggression during a typical week.

An article at Great Schools provides six ways you can help your child deal with relational aggression. The solution involves teaching them coping skills and how to find healthy friendships. The six strategies are:

1. Watch for the signs.
2. Use conversation starters.
3. Make a friendship tree.
4. Create a personal billboard.
5. Problem solve together.
6. Create a coping kit.

Helping your child deal with relational aggression can minimize the issues that can stem from this form of bullying. Children who experience relational aggression are absent more from school, do worse academically, and exhibit more behavior problems, eating disorders, substance abuse, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and low self-esteem. Read the full article for how to implement each of the six strategies.