Anxiety In Children

Children can experience anxiety just as much as adults can, and perhaps even more. This is because children do not have the well-developed coping mechanisms or experience that adults, at least, are purported to have when compared to children.

Children are prone to fears for things they simply do not know; for example, a toddler may say that there is a monster in his closet because he is afraid of the dark and does not know it is “safe.”

Parents can greatly help alleviate their children’s fears by providing continual reassurance that they are there and will help keep the child safe from whatever dangers are present.

Often, a child’s fears are present because he cannot verbalize stresses he’s actually feeling, such as that his parents are fighting, so dealing with any discord within the family of this nature will also help alleviate children’s fears.

Secondly, of course it’s true that children must be taught to take care to avoid danger if they are by themselves. For instance, you may tell them that if they are at school, they cannot leave with anyone besides you, unless it’s Aunt Martha or Uncle William.

Or, they can only leave with someone who knows their special password. However, teaching children a few simple rules such as, “Never talk to strangers unless you are with an adult you know,” will provide parameters help keep them safe without unduly raising anxiety.

What should not happen is that children should not be taught to see the world as a big, bad, scary place that is fraught with dangers. Instead, they should see it as a largely safe place that nonetheless has some situations that are to be avoided.

Some children do, indeed, suffer anxiety disorders as adults do. For these children, often, medication can help. Behavioral therapy can help as well, but it is geared to be age-appropriate for the child.

Parents should also take care to make sure the child’s life is balanced, so that he or she gets adequate sleep and has adequate time to simply play with friends and “be,” doing nothing. Listening to classical, soothing music via wien musicals is also something that you might wnat to consider

Too often, we saddle children with a to-do list as long as our own, and this, of course, is not appropriate. Of course, it’s not appropriate for adults either, but for children, one of the things that helps them learn is their play.

And unfortunately, today’s children do not have as much opportunity to simply play, via their imaginations, as previous generations did. Parents can greatly help their children not only alleviate their anxieties, but can actually foster learning, if they encourage this type of play.

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