This chart from Willow Counseling in the UK encourages us to “Just Be” during the coronavirus pandemic in order to maintain mental health. In a constantly changing world, it is important that we find a new normal for ourselves and our kids rather than imposing ideas about how things should be.
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These charts from Willow Counseling in the UK explain how your personality type impacts your reaction to Coronavirus. It explains the unique struggles that introverts and extroverts might be experiencing and offers tips for each personality type.
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Name: Fidget Cube
Category: Manipulable
Coping: Physical, Distraction, Soothing
The fidget cube is likely the second best known type of fidget toy – second only to the fidget spinner. Widely available and immensely popular, the fidget cube is beloved by young and old alike.
The fidget cube offers a variety of different types of fidgets attached to one cube. There are some varieties of the “fidget cube” which actually have more than six sides and offer even more fidgets. Different fidgets cubes generally include some combination of the following gadgets to keep your fingers busy:
By including multiple options, fidget cubes offer something for everyone looking to fidget and numerous ways to cope. The physical manipulation of the fidgets can help to cope as can the soothing feel and the distraction that the fidget cube offers.
Like their cousin the fidget spinner, the fidget cube comes in a variety of forms and varying quality levels. Most cubes though range from about $8 to about $15.
Appeal Rating (3.5 Smiles)We give the fidget cube an appeal rating of 3.5 out of 5 smiles. The fidget toys version of trying to be everything to everyone (or more precisely something to everyone), the fidget cube is an effective fidget and can offer several different coping options. That is the fidget cube’s biggest strength but can also be its biggest weakness. If you enjoy or benefit from one particular type of fidgeting, you would be better to get a fidget toy that focuses on that than a fidget cube that offers a bunch of options you will never use.
Durability Rating (3.5 Stones)We give the fidget cube a durability rating of 3.5 out of 5 stones. While I have not personally experienced these breaking, I have read numerous reviews where one or more of the individual fidgets either broke, stopped working, or never worked in the first place.
Portability Rating (4 Bags)We give the fidget cube a portability rating of 4 out of 5 bags. Some fidget cubes are bigger than others, but most of them are still small enough that they are easy to carry around. However, with various fidget possibilities sticking out from the cube, they can be hard to carry around in a pocket or easily get tangled up with headphone cords, etc.
Noise Rating (3.5 Decibles)We give the fidget cube a noise rating of 3.5 out of 5 decibles. Many of the fidgets included on the cube work base on a click or a bang which can lead to a lot of noise (particularly in a quiet room)
Overall Rating (3.5 Fidgets)We give the fidget cube an overall rating of 3.5 out of 5 stones. Some people really love the fidget cube which is evidenced by their sales over the last couple of years. They aren’t our favorite fidget, but they can be a good introduction to different types of fidgeting.
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In their continued efforts to help parents and kids deal with the coronavirus pandemic, Willow Counseling in the UK has posted the above graphic on ways to destress at home. No matter how good or bad your quarantine is going, it likely includes increased stress for both you and your kids. Using the coping techniques shown above, at least once a day, will help to lower stress levels in your house.
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Name: Fidget Spinner
Category: Manipulable
Coping: Physical, Distraction, Soothing, Social
We couldn’t start a series on fidgets without first tackling what has become the most popular fidget to date – the fidget spinner. From the spring and summer of 2017 through today, fidget spinners have become a cultural icon. Kids love them. Parents are sick of hearing about them. And, they have become the bane of some teachers’ existence. So, what is the fidget spinner, and why are they equally so loved and so despised?
Fidget Spinners are part of the manipulables category of fidgets. For purposes of this review, we define fidget spinners as:
A muti-pronged object (generally including two or three prongs) revolving around a center circle that is used by holding both sides of the middle of the spinner and spinning the prongs around the center.
They spin by using a series of ball bearings that allow the spinners to continue spinning for an extended period time without any additional effort. Today, fidget spinners come in all sorts of shape of sizes. There are also a number of “fidget spinner like items” which incorporate additional fidgeting possibilities – like the fidget spinner pictured here which includes many fidget cube components (we will talk about the fidget cube in a later installment).
The different types, sizes and looks of fidgets spinners are about as numerous as the number of times kids ask for them. Pictured below are some from my personal collection. They include regular fidget spinners, light up spinners, spinners from some of my favorite teams (Cowboys, Yankees, Ohio State) and more. If you happen to know where I can find a Leicester City Football Club spinner, let me know!
Fidget spinners come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – and also prices! You can find cheap fidget spinners at dollar stores and thrift stores. I’ve found them as cheap as $0.25 for a basic spinner at stores seeking to rid themselves of excess inventory. You can find branded fidgets spinners for fans of sports teams, tv shows, movies, cartoons, comics and much more – generally for anywhere between $5 and $10. There are higher end spinners that claim to spin better and longer and are made out of more sturdy materials for tens and even hundreds of dollars. There are even places where you can order your own personally branded version of the fidget spinner in bulk for giving to clients or students.
Appeal Rating (4.5 Smiles)We give fidget spinners an appeal rating of 4.5 out of 5 smiles. They are clearly popular which is evidenced by the large number of kids, teens and adults who still use and/or want one. Some of the novelty has worn off from the peek 12-18 months ago, but these spinners still tend to draw a crowd (particularly the more unique ones). There are books of tricks you can do with the fidget spinners and kids still love them.
The fidget spinner serves in a number of different coping capacities:
All in all, fidget spinners are both effective and a lot of fun. The only thing that keeps them from getting 5 smiles is that they have slightly over-saturated the market in the last couple of years and some of the novelty has begun to wear off.
Durability Rating (4 Stones)We give fidget spinners a durability rating of 4 out of 5 stones. Like many of he fidgets we will review in this series, the fidget spinner comes in all types of varieties from different of manufacturers (everyone wants a piece of the fidget pie). Some high end fidget spinners are almost indestructible (and you pay accordingly). Even the cheaper ones hold up pretty good. My son found one at a soccer field during a game one weekend that had clearly been out in the elements for weeks (if not months). The plastic casing was eroded, but the spinner still worked fine. Others are slightly less durable, though I’ve yet to see one snap in half. The only issue with some of the spinners is that the center pieces can sometimes fall off or the bearings may fall out. Many also start to spin less smoothly and for shorter periods of time after repeated use.
Portability Rating (4 Bags)We give fidget spinners a portability rating of 4 out of 5 bags. The fidget spinner comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes making this rating a little hard. Generally, they are fairly small (and even come in miniature varieties) making them fairly easy to carry. The only thing that keeps them from getting a higher rating is that they can tend to be a little heavy or awkward to carry in your pocket, and some of the spinners with sharper edges can pose a problem in terms of carrying them.
Noise Rating (3.5 Decibles)We give fidget spinners a noise rating of 3.5 out of 5 decibles. They are loud enough when they spin to be a distraction in a classroom setting which has resulted in them to be banned by many schools. That said, in terms of overall noise production, they actually aren’t that loud, and the better made options make very little sound indeed.
Overall Rating (4 Fidgets)Overall, we give fidget spinners a rating of 4 out of 5 fidgets. Wildly popular, engaging and an effective coping mechanism, spinners live up to their hype. That said, after a while they can grow a little stale and spend more time collecting dust than being used.
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The graphic above from Willow Counseling in the UK provides helpful advice on reframing unhelpful thoughts you are your children might be having in relation to the coronavirus pandemic. Reframing is a useful Thinking Coping Skill included in the The Super Simple Feelings Management Technique [SSFMT] which is part of the Stand Strong component of our Hope 4 Hurting Kids Jump In! Stand Strong! Rise Up! Comprehensive Emotions Management Plan.
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Everywhere you look on social media these days, there is talk of families fighting and dealing with the impacts of the Covid-19 quarantine. The fact of the matter is that much of what your children might be exhibiting actually relates to Covid-19 sadness.
As illustrated in the graphic above, for children, sadness can often be disguised as one of the following:
In order to help kids deal with their actions, we need to understand the emotions underlying the outward show. For more information, check out the original article from Erin Leyba LCSW, Ph.D. at Psychology Today.
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Name: Infinity Cube
Category: Manipulable
Coping: Physical, Distraction, Soothing
The Infinity Cube holds the distinction of being my favorite fidget toy to date. At first glance, it looks a little bit like the lesser known cousin of the Rubik’s Cube, and I didn’t think much of it when I first saw it. The real measure of a fidget toy though is how much you find yourself using it. From the first moment I picked up, the Infinity Cube has been my favorite, and I’ve yet to find another fidget that comes even close.
The Infinity Cube is a series of eight blocks hinged together in such a way that you can flip the blocks and change the shape of them over and over without stopping or back tracking. This ability to “keep going” gives rise to the “infinity” part of the name. If you’ve never used one, imagine a folded sheet of paper that you can continuously unfold over and over again without ever completely unfolding the paper
The infinity cube is both addicting and soothing as you manipulate the blocks using either one hand or two. When you first start using it, you will find yourself concentrating on how it works. This can be an effective coping mechanism as it diverts your attention from whatever you are dealing with. As you use it more and more though, you will get the feel of it and how it works and find yourself using it without even thinking about it. (I sometimes use mine while working on the computer – for example as I write this!) The sound of the blocks folding and unfolding as well as the constant motion in your hand can be very soothing not to mention the tactile feeling of the cubes.
Like many fidget toys, the Infinity Cube comes is variety of materials and sizes. They are also manufactured to varying levels of quality. You can get a cheap plastic version for $5 or so though these lose some of their effectiveness in their lack of quality. A good plastic Infinity Cube will cost from $10-$15 dollars and works well. One of my new favorites (the OctoCube) is rubber coated a little bit smaller than most infinity cubes, and costs approximately $10. I also sprang for a high quality metal one for personal use that cost me in the range of $20-$25.
Appeal Rating (5 Smiles)We give the infinity cube an appeal rating of 5 out of 5 smiles. If we could have given it a higher rating, we would have. As indicated above, the Infinity Cube became, and still remains, our favorite fidget toy. They are fun to use and hard to resist. They help kids (and adults) cope in a variety of ways. The constant movement of the cubes has a soothing impact and the physical manipulation of the toy can be a welcome distraction.
Durability Rating (5 Stones)We give the infinity cube a durability rating of 5 out of 5 stones. While it would seem like the numerous hinges might make this fidget toy more susceptible to breaking, we haven’t found that to be true. Particularly our metal infinity cube had withstood all kids of use, dropping, falling and multitude of little hands without any signs of excessive wear and tear.
Portability Rating (4.5 Bags)We give the infinity cube a portability rating of 4.5 out of 5 bags. We really wanted to give it a five. After all, when all eight blocks are aligned flat, it will easily fit into your pocket. Even as a cube, it’s easy to hold. However, it would likely be a little large to carry around in your pocket (the OctoCube is a good alternative), and that is the only reason we knocked off half a bag.
Noise Rating (4.5 Decibles)We give the infinity cube a noise rating of 4.5 out of 5 decibles. The infinite cube is by no means loud. That said, there is a “banging” together of the cubes that does make some noise. If you use it gently, you can minimize the noise, but who wants to do that?
Overall Rating (5 Fidgets)We give the infinity cube an overall rating of 5 out of 5 fidgets. No surprise here! The Infinity Cube is our favorite when it comes to fidget toys. It is fun, engaging, easy to use and just the right amount of addicting. If you plan get only one fidget toy for yourself, or someone else, make it the Infinity Cube!
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In 2018, we started a series here on Hope 4 Hurting Kids called Fidgets 101. As we continue to spend time in our house, and my now 12-year-old son and I were sorting through our collection of fidgets the other day, I began to think about fidgets and coronavirus. Given the change in structure, extra time that many of us find ourselves trying to fill, anxiety and everything else going on, it seems like fidgets could be a valuable tool in helping children, and adults, deal with the emotional impacts (and boredom) of the current pandemic. To that end, we a reviving the Fidgets 101 series. Starting this Thursday, and every Thursday thereafter, we will be featuring a detailed look at, and review of, one specific type of fidgets. We will continue to tag Covid-19 in our posts so these posts will show up in the emotions section of our Covid-19 page as we believe that fidgets are a good investment for helping your kids to deal with the impacts of the current pandemic.
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When it comes to kids and the Covid-19 outbreak, I have two major concerns related to how we help kids not only endure the current situation, but move forward in a healthy way.
My first concern is the impact that the stress of this outbreak will have on kids, and particularly on children who have already experienced another trauma in their young lives. We will deal with this topic in future articles here on Hope 4 Hurting Kids.
My second major concern is how we prepare kids for grief related to a pandemic. On a smaller scale, there are likely many kids who are currently experiencing grief related to the loss of their normal routine. More importantly, given the daily projections of deaths which may be experienced related to this outbreak, it is likely that there will be hundreds of thousands of kids who face the very real prospect of grieving the loss of someone they love either already or in the very near future.
For many kids, one of their first experiences of grief relates to the loss of grandparent. Given that Covid-19 appears to have a disproportionate impact on the elderly, many kids may face that task sooner than they would have otherwise. We live in a grief avoiding culture, but unfortunately, we will all be faced with grief in the coming weeks.
The following represent nine things are key to helping sa child through the grief process. We will dig into these in more detail in the days and weeks to come, but the purpose of this article is just to introduce the concept so that you can help the kids in your life.
Here are some activities and information we have featured previously here on Hope 4 Hurting Kids that may also help:
You can also check out our Grief Help Center.
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