Children like adults often experience feelings of anxiousness but is it normal for your young child to feel worried or anxious? The answer is yes, anxiety is a feeling or nervousness and your body’s natural response to stress, therefore, it is completely normal for children to experience these feelings too.
Feelings of worry or anxiousness may be more intense and frequent in some children and as a parent it is important to be aware of these feelings.
Common signs of anxiety in children
· Overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and stress
· Always crying
· Trouble sleeping, broken sleep and/or has recurring nightmares
· Constant negative thoughts and trouble concentrating
· Constantly irritable and gets agitated quite easily
· Loss of appetite and frequent complaints about tummy aches
· Feelings of nervousness, tenseness and often fidgety
· Often seems scared, distant, and reluctant to speak
· Being clingy all the time
Addressing anxiety in children means understanding the different types of anxiety experienced by children and their causes. One of the most common anxieties experienced by young children is School anxiety.
School anxiety
It is common for children to have fears about starting school, according to the
Anxiety and Depression Association of America “School anxiety affects 2% to 5% of school aged children”.
Children react in many ways as result to fears about interacting with other kids or being separated from their parents for too long. Younger children may often be quite reluctant to go to school, they may throw tantrums, ask if “parents can stay at school with them” or complain about feeling unwell.
Moreover, anxieties towards school can stem from fears of being bullied or demands of achieving at a high level in the classroom. Understanding your kid’s fears surrounding school is important and a necessary step towards helping your anxious child.
Helping children with anxiety
There are many simple methods that parents could consider when helping children manage feelings of anxiety.
Five ways to help your anxious child
1.Help your child understand their feelings
Improving Your Child's Emotional Intelligence will help them in understanding and dealing with their feelings better. Children who understand their emotions at young age tend to cope with feelings of stress and worry in more positive way.
2. Help your kid face their fears
It is important to support your child when they are feeling afraid in way that is sensitive and reassuring. Pulling children away from the things that scare them could create a coping mechanism to all stressful situations. Helping children avoid their fears could be helpful in the short term but could possibly reinforce anxieties in the long run.
3. Reinforce a positive attitude
Helping children make light of difficult or stressful situations can provide them with the confidence to face various challenges and obstacles. You cannot take the feeling of fear away from children, but you can help in reassuring them that “everything is going to be okay”.
4. Ask your child about their feelings
Talk to you your child about their feelings and ask how they feel about a certain challenge or situation. However, be careful to not encourage fears by asking questions that lead to feelings of being stressed or worried. – “Are you nervous about going to school?” You can avoid fueling feelings of anxiety by asking questions such as “How are feeling about your first day of school”?
5. Mange your anxieties in a positive way
Children are extremely perceptive especially at a young age, therefore, as a parent it is important to model good ways of coping with anxieties. It is okay that children know that you too deal with feelings of fear and anxiety too. Tolerating these feelings and handling them in a way that is calm and positive helps your child learn great coping mechanisms towards feelings of anxiety.
Providing nurturing and care for your child to overcome any obstacle.
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