Anxiety in children is quite often difficult to detect - all of them have fears and worries and in many cases parents tend to ignore the fact these worries persist for months and years. If you notice that your kids’ fears and worries are far stronger or last longer than they should, then your child might suffer from anxiety disorders. Dealing with Anxiety in Children
How can you help your children live a normal and fulfilling life if they suffer from anxiety disorders?
You should be aware of the fact that kids with anxious parents are far more likely to have excessive fears and worries themselves. If you have a family history of suffering form anxiety, you should consult a medical professional to help you manage your anxiety, as well as give you some advice on how to help your children better cope with their emotions. You should do that even though you don’t see any worrying symptoms in your kids – many good programs have been developed and are successful in early intervention and even prevention of anxiety or depression (the two are strongly correlated).
Most of the children’s worries and fears are associated with big changes in their lives. These can range form really traumatic experiences like death in the family to starting school, relocating to a new town, separation of the parents, and other factors. Many parents fail to realize that something that they consider trivial can cause extreme distress in their children. You might be used to moving from town to town, but for a child even moving from one school to another might traumatize him or her. Make sure that you give enough time to your child to properly cope with any change: if you know in advance that such changes will occur, try your best to explain the reasons for the change, and ease your children in into the new situation or environment. This will make the change less stressful and less likely to lead to anxiety.
Listen to your child – do not underestimate your child’s fears and worries, listen to what they have to say and if these worries are excessive and last for months, then this usually indicates an anxiety disorder. Take the time to teach your child to better cope with his or her fears, show your child practical way of getting over these fears and worries and for younger children you can even use books and illustrations.
Provide safe environment for your children. Children that have suffered any from of abuse (verbal, physical, or sexual) are much more likely to suffer from severe anxiety disorders. Make sure that your child feels safe at home and try your best to prevent him or her from becoming a victim of school violence too.
Do not pressure your child to face “head on” his fears! If a child is uncomfortable with a situation or new people don’t push them to do what they are uncomfortable doing – this will only deepen their anxiety and fears. Take the “one step at the time” approach, in most cases children get over their irrational fears in moths, give them enough time, support them all the way, and your child is likely to cope with his or her emotions.
Watch out for physical signs of anxiety – in many cases the children show identical symptoms as the adults, but some signs might not be that easy to spot. If your child gets a panic attack during camp, then you can be almost sure that this is a result of an anxiety disorder. If your child shows aggression, hyperactivity, tantrums, crying, and defiance this can be accepted as normal, but can be a sign of anxiety as well. In such cases you should consult a medical specialist and seek advice.
Read on for Common Anxiety Medicine for children and Anxiety Treatments for Children.
