3 Steps to Help Children Manage Anxiety

Teaching them to tolerate their anxiety can help. Courage doesn’t come naturally and is never easy for an anxious child. A courageous child has learned that courage is a choice that can be practiced: An experience that follows from fear and anxiety. Courage is fundamentally the decision to focus on something more important than fear. Especially for an anxious child, when facing something hard and scary, courage gives them the boost they need to face it front and center. Practicing courage builds confidence, which in turn delivers the resources kids need to choose it again and again. A courageous child knows how to not only tolerate his anxiety but to use it. So, how do you teach your children to use their anxiety as fuel for being brave? Here are 3 parenting tips for dealing with anxiety in children, and how to teach them to use it to their benefit to build courage. 1. Stay Connected to Your Kids. The most fundamental way for you to begin helping your child be courageous is to regularly communicate with them. Whatever it takes to keep lines of communication open are worth investing in. Communication is how you stay connected, and also how you teach your kids about ideas and values. As kids learn and absorb family values, they become better able to access and use them in their lives. In turn, these values become the reasons to put fear aside and be brave. Consider screen-free time together, family dinners, conversations while in the car (without your child on their phone th...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Children and Teens Publishers YourTango anxiety Parenting Tips Source Type: blogs