Do you ever feel at a loss on how to support your anxious child?

Watching your child go through anxiety is one of the hardest things a parent can witness. It is heartbreaking to watch your child struggle. 

We want to just make it go away and pave an easier path for our children.  Some parents have anxiety themselves and can relate to how painful and debilitating it can be.  Other parents are not anxious at all and feel at a complete loss because they just don’t understand the pain.  Either way, the parenting mission becomes focused solely on taking away that anxiety.  The problem with this is that it simply cannot be.  Anxiety is here to stay so perhaps a better parenting plan is to teach our children what to do during the anxious moments and to give them the tools to understand and eventually control their anxiety.  

Controlling anxiety can be a very empowering experience for children.  It’s like climbing a mountain or competing in a challenging road race.  It seems scary or insurmountable at first but getting through it can be a huge confidence booster. So how can you help your child get past the scary moment?  Teach them to expect and plan for the anxiety.  Expecting and accepting anxiety is very important because then your child can make a plan for addressing it.  

This is the empowering moment: setting the goal, using the strategies and then ultimately seeing the strategies make the anxiety better. 

The easiest way to begin is to identify your child’s triggers. Once your child expects the anxiety, you can make a plan to address each symptom.  

Are the symptoms physical like stomach aches or fidgeting? You can prepare your child with crackers ( or a mint for nausea) or a fidget tool.  

Does your child worry and think about worst case scenarios? Help your child come up with positive alternative statements so they change the way they think about the trigger.  

Use our Instead of That, Say This Script to best support your child. Communicating effectively is a critical component to helping your child move through their anxiety. 

Helping your child to conquer their anxiety instead of avoiding it is the best gift you can give them! 

Stay tuned as we will continue to focus on strategies for anxiety this month!

P.S.Check out our Anxiety Tip Pack and other resources on the Navigating ADHD Hub