Grounding Activity: Listing to Reduce Anxiety for Kids and Teens
Grounding is a great way to manage overwhelming emotions. It’s good for fighting anxiety, panic attacks, anger, dissociation and more. This keeps your brain busy and focused on something other than the intense feelings and helps you feel calmer. I want to note that these are for in-the-moment stabilization, and not for totally ignoring these emotions. Grounding gets you to a place where you can think rationally and explore what happened and reflect on what triggered your emotions - either on your own, with a loved one, or with your therapist. This is a great activity to teach and practice with your kids and teens; really this one is great for all ages.
It’s a pretty simple concept; You pick a category and try to list as many things in that category as possible. It’s important to select a category (or better yet, a few categories) ahead of time. Overwhelmed brains have a hard time processing more complex concepts and coming up with new ideas; they are soothed by specific, easy, repetitious tasks. So this activity will work much better if there’s a category ready to go when the big emotions kick up. Here’s a few things to keep in mind when selecting a category:
Ideally, the category will be broad enough to keep the brain busy for a while but not too broad as to feel overwhelming. So “animals” may be too big, “types of butterflies” might be too small, but “insects” or “dog breeds” may be the right size.
Help your child select something that’s actually interesting to them. Some kids would love to list all the Marvel superheroes, while some would find that difficult and/or boring. A teenager who loves theater may really enjoy listing as many musicals as they can, while others would be stumped after one or two. If the activity isn’t keeping their attention, it’s not working. Plus they’re more likely to use this coping skill on their own if it’s something they’re interested in.
Make sure it’s something overall positive or neutral for the child. Some kids and teens who feel particularly close to their family may enjoy listing all their family members, but if their family is a source of stress, this wouldn’t be a good option. If you and your child aren’t sure if a topic is going to be okay, just skip it. There are endless possibilities for categories that won’t dredge up any additional challenging emotions.
Once you’ve selected a good category or two, it can be really helpful to write it down somewhere. If your child or teen has their own phone, they can put it in their notes app. If not, posting it somewhere easy to find is a good option. For younger kids, they may need a little bit of coaching, especially the first few times. Give them some encouragement and clues if they get stuck. The important part here is that their brains are still on this task while they come down from the big emotion. Don’t let them go too long without a hint if they are really stumped, this can just make them feel frustrated which would be counterproductive. If one category has been exhausted but they don’t feel calmer yet, move on to another category.
To get your started, here’s a list of potential topics:
Dog breeds
Zoo animals
Farm animals
Insects
Flowers or plants
Cheeses
Vegetables
Fruits
Ice cream flavors
Sodas
Restaurants
States in the US
Countries in the world
Languages
Programming languages
Video games
Roblox games
Youtubers
Movies of a certain genre (horror, cartoons, action, superhero, Disney, etc)
Makeup brands
Colleges and Universities
Sports teams in a league (NFL, NBA, NHL, MBA, etc)
Olympic sports
Stuffed animals
Crayola crayon colors
Truly there are endless possibilities, and honestly it can be fun to come up with them! If your kid or teen struggles with anxiety or other big emotions, grounding activities like these can be a really great tool. And, as I mentioned before, they need to still process what happened after their brains are calmer. Many kids and teens that struggle with anxiety benefit from therapy. They can learn tools like this but also explore what’s at the root of their anxiety. If you’re in the Austin, Texas area, contact me to learn more about how I can support your teen or child through their anxiety.