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Childhood Anxiety
Your child slept in because they struggled to sleep last night.
While rushing around trying to get everyone ready for the day ahead, your child is crying or screaming, and telling you they don’t feel well.
They don’t want to eat breakfast, because who wants to eat when they don’t feel well, right?
Anxious Mornings
Yesterday it was the same story, only he was telling you he couldn’t breathe right.
Tomorrow she’ll be telling you she thinks she’s going to puke.
Some mornings it passes fairly quickly, and you’re relieved. Some mornings it doesn’t, and it feels like all-out war.
What Is Happening?!
You’re exhausted by 8:30am, worried about your child and convinced somewhere along the way you messed up BIG TIME.
In the absence of other symptoms, and if this happens more than you’d care to admit, the situation might be serious – this is anxiety.
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What Is Anxiety?
When people talk about ’having anxiety’, they might be talking about two different things. They could be talking about a diagnosed condition, or they might be using the term anxiety to describe a feeling.
Strictly speaking, anxiety isn’t a condition, it’s a feeling. It’s a natural emotion that is normal and healthy to feel sometimes, in the same way that it’s normal to feel anger, sadness and frustration.
We want our kids to feel some anxiety, and to learn what to do with that BIG feeling, so that they can handle it when they are older.
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What IS It?
Anxiety itself is normal and useful, and helps us a LOT! It’s a problem when it’s excessive, and there is no rationale reason for the worry or fear.
Normal: That person is making me feel anxious, I’m going to run away ASAP.
Excessive: Every person I don’t know already makes me feel anxious, I’m going to avoid ALL of them, if possible.
Normal: A dog bit me last month, and now i’m anxious about all dogs.
Excessive: All animals trigger a complete meltdown that lasts for a long time.
Normal: Being anxious on the first day of school.
Excessive: Having extreme anxiety every morning before school, with no known explanation.
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How can I tell if my child has anxiety?
Because they’re little, and don’t always know how to express what they’re feeling, AND because anxiety can be felt differently in different people, it can look like different things, which makes it tricky to figure out.
For example:
Tummy ache
Crankiness
Headache
Scared
Worried
Tantrums (FREAK OUTS!)
Withdrawals (FREAK INS)
Breathing problems
Heart racing
Girl with anxiety hugging father
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Resources
Mindful Mantras
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Mindfulness Cards
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Practice Breathing
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