Does My Child Have Anxiety?
Can Young Kids Get Anxiety?
When children are younger, there is a great possibility that when they develop issues such as anxiety, it tends to get ignored by parents. We often assume that they are going through terrible twos, or terrible threes or they are just emotional or difficult kids.
Developing a little anxiety in childhood is a normal part of their development. However, once your child experiences intense anxiety or has anxiety more often than other kids, it can stop them from getting the most of his/her life.
The anxiety in children can develop at different stages:
- For toddlers and babies, they might fear loud noise, strangers, heights and separation.
- Preschoolers may start showing fear of being alone in the dark or fear of going to school.
- For school age children, they might start being afraid of the supernatural things, criticisms, failure, social situations and physical threat or harm (for example, if they are bullied).
Children sometimes feel anxious because it runs in the family. They would tend to behave or think in anxious ways by going through scary experiences or even watching others go through a scary experience. The environment where the child lives might also be the reason they have become anxious.
- An overprotective parent can increase the anxiety of their child because they do not have the chance to do things in their own way and learn that mistakes are a natural part of learning. Having an overprotective parent can result in the child developing fear whenever their parents are not around.
- An underprotective parent can increase the anxiety of their child because the child doesn’t have the guidance they need to determine of something is safe or not.
How to support your child who’s experiencing anxiety?
- Parenting from a little bit of a distance to give your child the independence and confidence they need, but you are close enough to provide some guidance. Assess their safety to determine of the consequence of their venturing out would cause significant harm (in which case you will be close enough to intervene).
- Acknowledge your child’s fear and do not ignore or dismiss it.
- Try to encourage your child in doing things that he/she is anxious about. However, you must not push him/her to face the specific situations if he/she is not yet ready or does not want to.
- Always praise your child for doing the things he/she is anxious about instead of criticizing him/her from being afraid or for not going all the way through with the activity (even a small attempt should be praised).
- Do not label your child as anxious or shy person. If they believe they are “anxious” they will be more likely to act in accordance with their label and then behavior in anxious ways.
- If you need help or support, you can actually seek help for parenting techniques that you can utilize to help your child. You can learn how to help them take deep breaths; help change their fearful thought patterns, and how to evaluate appropriately the risk for different ventures.
How to secure the safety of your child and the good future that awaits them:
There are several reasons why children would tend to experience anxiety at an early age. The best way to avoid letting your child’s anxiety get any bigger involves you changing your response. Don’t put so much attention onto the issue. The more attention you put on the situation the worse your child’s anxiety can get. Be there always to guide and help them in whatever difficulties they are experiencing. It is vital to stop the anxiety that your child is experiencing because it can affect how your child deals with the situation and other people in the future.
Once you notice that your child is acting differently or showing the signs of anxiety, it is best for you to get parenting help and seek an expert that can help your child and can help you in parenting your anxious child. Overcoming anxiety among children is not impossible once you do something about it. Your child’s future can be affected with the simple anxiety that he/she might be experiencing today.