Reducing Anxiety in Kids: Observation and Communication
Oct 19, 2017
Everyone gets anxious now and then. But the difference is that when a kid gets anxious, they often don’t have the vocabulary to deal with it. Adults can say, “I’m feeling anxious/worried/tense/stressed out.” But kids don’t often know exactly what is troubling them. So they can’t express it. This is why you need to be more vigilant as a parent or a teacher in order to reduce anxiety in kids. Here are some tips:
Knowing What’s Going on in Your Child’s Life
If you’re the child’s parent, then you know what’s going on at home with the child. You know if the child has had any sources of anxiety recently, such as moving houses, moving schools, fights with other kids in the neighborhood, even reaching puberty in which the body undergoes many changes. All these things can affect a kid’s state of mind.
Plus, there might be other issues at school that you don’t know about. In this case you can keep in touch with teachers at the kid’s school as well as other parents. When you take your kid on play dates, you can chat with other parents or nannies who are also a great source of information. This will help you to know if the child is having any sources of stress/anxiety.
Communicating with Your Child
Sometimes, even just talking about your feelings helps a person to feel better. And kids are no exception. Sure, they may not be able to have complicated conversations about how they feel but they can tell you how their day went if you bother to ask them. They can tell you what happened at school or when they were at lunch. All you need to do is express an interest in their lives and they will open up to you completely.
Once you know the source of a child’s anxiety, you can help them to resolve it by presenting a solution, helping them to come up with a solution or consulting a teacher/therapist if no simple solution presents itself.
Contact us for more tips on reducing anxiety in kids.