Raising children isn’t exactly the easiest, especially when they’re in the middle of a tantrum. However, one 6-year-old has mastered the concept of practicing breathing exercises in stressful situations, and even helped avert what could’ve been a tantrum from his 4-year-old brother.
Ashley West, the kids’ mom, captured it all on video. She saw her middle son Noah calming his little brother, Cory, using a breathing exercise. She immediately filmed this special moment and uploaded it to Twitter — only to find out later that it had gone viral.
She captioned the tweet: “My four-year-old was about to have a whole tantrum and my 6-year-old helped him manage his breathing so he could calm down… I’d say I’m doing freaking alright.”
In the 21-second-clip, Noah stands in front of Cory — who’s crying — and encourages him to continue breathing in and out, miming what he wants his younger brother to do.
According to West, Cory’s almost-tantrum was triggered by an all-too-familiar catastrophe. “He wanted to play the Nintendo — if you have kids or have been around any you know they think it’s fully charged after being plugged for only a millisecond… anyway it wasn’t and he started having a little meltdown till big bro intervened.”
West told TODAY Parents that she’s studying to become a social worker, and so she has a lot of background in social-emotional work. She says the family also does a lot of yoga together, and that the breathing technique really came in handy during the pandemic.
