REWIRED MINDS
DOES YOUR CHILD HAVE ANXIETY?
New research has shown that anxiety in children and teens is on the increase and I have witnessed this for myself with a marked increased in enquiries from concerned parents wanting to help their children.
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What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal feeling of worry or fear in response to a stressful situation like exams or presentations. It is our brain’s way of protecting us from difficult or potentially dangerous situations.
Symptoms of Childhood Anxiety
It is perfectly normal for children to experience some anxiety and may not express the same symptoms as adults. For example, they may have outbursts of anger or irritability in addition to fear and worry. Other symptoms may include: feeling nervous, on edge, or panicky all the time having trouble sleeping feeling sick all the time feeling overwhelmed or full of dread feeling out of control low appetite finding it difficult to concentrate feeling tired and grumpy heart beating really fast having a dry mouth trembling, or having wobbly legs feeling faint or dizzy
How to Help a Child With Anxiety Don’t Avoid the Triggers In avoiding the things that cause anxiety we can accidently reinforce that this is actually something to be fearful of, progressively making the anxiety worse. Build Their Confidence Be positive about areas of their life in which they feel really confident and how they have overcome obstacles in the past. Getting them to focus on their past achievements and successes helps to build confidence in new situations. Breathe Together When your child is experiencing an anxious moment try a breathing techniques like 5-2-7 techniques (breathe in for 5, hold for 2 and out for 7). This approach activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing the feelings of stress and anxiety.