How to Treat Anxiety in Kids
Anxiety is very common in children, not only common, but very normal. Babies can progress from stranger anxiety to separation anxiety. Older children can develop fears of make-believe things such as monsters, or serious things such as storms and tornadoes. The symptoms of anxiety can include nervousness, stomach aches, nausea, problems staying asleep or becoming clingy. Parents can usually tell if something is wrong with their child, and can learn ways to help their child calm down and deal with anxiety.
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How to Treat Anxiety in Kids
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Recognize your child's symptoms and understand they can be real. Don't make your child feel badly. The anxieties may be hard to understand and deal with, but making your child feel stupid or unreasonable will not help. Develop a rating scale to help, for example from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most anxiety-causing. This can help you understand the seriousness.
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Role play with younger children. To do this, you can look at pictures in books and ask your child how the person is feeling and why. You can help the child understand why the individual in the picture is happy, sad, mad, etc.
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Teach your child to explain his anxiety. Along with the rating system, you can teach a child to describe his feelings, such as nervous, jumpy or sad. This can help you identify the anxiety and results.
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Process the anxiety. Help figure out why it is happening or where it is happening. For example, does your child only get upset when she is alone in her room or only when she has to ride the school bus? You can help deal with the anxiety better if you narrow it down to the specific situations.
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Reward the child when he does overcome his fear. If your child refuses to sleep in his room because he is afraid to be alone, a reward system can be used to measure progress. This can be a simple sticker on a chart daily or an extra book at bedtime.
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Respect the child's setbacks. While you are rewarding her for her progress, accept that there may be setbacks. If you are trying to help your child overcome a fear, be patient. If this anxiety is serious, it may take an extended period of time to overcome.
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