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Supporting children with anxiety
Supporting a child with anxiety can feel helpless at times, and anxiety is not always the easiest thing to understand. From the outside looking in, it can appear to be there's nothing to be worried about. You're okay. It's all right.
When inside, it feels like nothing's okay. There's everything to worry about. And even the littlest thing can feel like a mountain to climb. Putting on a fresh t-shirt, brushing hair, eating well. All these tiny little things that we take for granted can feel like running a marathon with anxiety.
When it's your child who has anxiety and is worried about all the things happening in their world, you can end up feeling like there's nothing you can do. It can be so disempowering to watch your child struggle and not know how to help them. When many of the things that you would naturally and instinctively do don't work, then, without meaning it, you can add your anxiety into the mix as well.
An anxiety spiral can be created and perpetuated in that relationship.
Supporting your child with anxiety is about helping them to have tools and techniques that they can use, but also about helping you as a parent to understand and listen to what your child needs and to be able to trust that together, you can find a way to manage anxious moments, and find a way to live a more fulfilled, less anxious life.
It's not always the quickest process. Anxiety typically is something that builds up over some time. And so, we must be prepared that it's not one session and done kind of situation, but it is a process that we can make progress with. Step-by-step, you can help your child do the things they want without the overwhelming feelings of anxiety.