She’s Discussing How You Can Recognize Anxiety In Children And What You Can Do About It
The best way to help kids manage their anxiety is to teach them how to deal with it as it comes along.
And that’s what mom and therapist Melissa (@momtherapist) is doing by, first and foremost, helping parents recognize the signs of anxiety.
The first step toward supporting your child with anxiety is to help them understand what they’re feeling in the moment. This means that as a parent, you need to know what it looks like when your kid is anxious.
Some signs of this include when your child is complaining about their tummy hurting, when they don’t want to go to school, if they can’t sleep, or if they’re taking multiple trips to the bathroom.
Melissa has a strategy you can start to implement in your life today. Teaching your kid this skill, reflecting/feeling, will help them be able to cope with their anxiety.
“It is literally the building block for everything we do in life. If we can understand how we’re feeling and when we’re feeling it, then we can cope with it appropriately,” said Melissa.
She also recommends reading books about worry to explain to your youngster what worry is and where it might come from.
Her favorite books are What to Do When You Worry Too Much by Dawn Huebner and There’s a Bully in My Brain by Kristin O’Rourke.
The most significant aspect of both books is that they separate the feeling of worry from the child, an important lesson that many kids aren’t taught at a young age.
dream@do – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“Now what this does is it pulls apart the two, so instead of your child being an over worrier or the problem, now we can say, that looks like your worry bully; that’s not you talking. That’s that thing in your head talking that likes to make you feel bad,” said Melissa.
Melissa then goes on to explain how the brain becomes excellent at things it often does, such as worrying. To combat this, the solution is to spend less time worrying, which is easier said than done.
Set up a specific ‘worry time’ for your child, a ten to fifteen minute period where you can listen to your kids’ worries. All you have to do is simply listen. Don’t try to problem-solve.
Throughout the day, if your kid is bringing up a worry of theirs, you can direct them to save it for the designated ‘worry time.’
Distract their brain by doing an enjoyable activity or even a household chore. This strategy validates your child’s feelings while also getting them to spend a little less time worrying.
Hopefully, these techniques will help your child overcome anxiety! And remember, adults can practice these methods too!
@momtherapist Kids tall about anxiety in ways adulta often dont pick up on. Heres your cheat sheet for deciphering kid speak on anxiety! #therapy #childtherapists #thoughtsfromatherapist #wellnestcounseling #dallastherapist #parenting #4upage
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