Helping Your Child with Anxiety

From exams and coursework to dealing with friends, often times our kids are facing anxiety and just don’t know how to cope. Below are some skills parents can learn to help your child with anxiety.

Respond to your child’s anxiety by acknowledging his feelings. When we receive acknowledgment, we not only feel better, but we are more likely able to think clearly and focus on answers.

Taking care of your own emotions by staying calm and less reactive. Not only does this make you a better role model for your children, it helps them build a brain and nervous system that can self-regulate.

Use simple phrases such as “I understand your worry” to show your empathy and increase the chances that your child accepts your guidance.

Use nonverbal communication that includes making eye contact with your child when talking about his worries, holding his hands, and speaking with a soothing voice can help to soften his emotions and will encourage him to speak openly with you.

Find the reason of worry: you can learn to do this by teaching your child to be a “thought detective” to find the main thoughts that are causing worry, and then take action into reframing them into positive ones.

Teach mindfulness. We often worry about the future and forget to pay attention to what is happening at the present moment, which makes us more anxious. By practicing being mindful and coming back to the present moment, your child enhances his ability to focus and find solutions.

(Credit: Haifa Dada, Parent and Family Coach, Emerge Coaching; www.emerge-coaching.net)