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Singapore 218108
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“I have a very anxious kid. My son is eight, he is already in the second grade but is still very shy and afraid of other people. If a teacher reprimands him even slightly, he becomes very upset, cries the whole evening and doesn’t want to go to school. I have to take him to class and console him. He is so afraid that he hides behind me, blushes and may start crying when meeting new people, even his peers. Sometimes he has nightmares in the middle of the night and cannot sleep afterwards until morning. He does well in school, but he takes a lot of time to complete a task, afraid to make a mistake. He is very afraid to answer during class, even if he knows the material. He is good at remembering and reciting poems, but it makes no sense to send him to a contest. We have tried once, and he almost threw a tantrum. I have no idea how to make my child less anxious. I do my best to protect him from strong emotional impacts, we rarely go to new places, but I won’t be able to protect him like that his whole life.”
– Anastasia, mother of 8 year old Vanya
There is a stereotype in our society that anxiety is a “perk” of adulthood. Children, according to this stereotype, have nothing to worry about, they are pampered, provided for and protected by their parents. However, increased anxiety levels might stem from reasons other than external ones. A lot depends on a persons inner state, and that is not age-related: even babies and teenagers can get anxious. For children it can be specifically hard, because they don’t know yet how to handle stress, their own fears and worries, so they seek help from their parents. Let’s talk about causes of anxiety and learn some pieces of advice to help children with it, how to teach them react to difficult situations and help them develop coping skills, essential for their future life.
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Anxiety is a high disposition to worries and reservations. A person with this problem is often worried about relatively insignificant issues, feels constant threat and ungrounded fear. Any event will be seen as dangerous, challenging and stressful.
Like fear, anxiety can be beneficial, as it is originally a protective means of our psyche. Occasional anxiety helps us rise to the task, escape danger and solve the problem. However, if anxiety follows us in any life circumstances, even clearly favorable, then it has become a fixed personal trait and a behavior pattern.
This is true both for children and adults. However, children display anxiety differently. A child with this disorder has trouble establishing connections with others, they are constantly depressed and cautious, they see the world as a scary and dangerous place. Such children develop low self-esteem and grim future outlook. Low stress tolerance can be a consequence of high anxiety in children, making them unable to handle life situations, study successfully and explore the world around them.
Parents often have trouble figuring out if their child’s anxiety level has become abnormal. Here is a short questionnaire “Child’s anxiety level” based on observations to help you. [1] Read the statements and mark the ones you agree with.
If you have marked more than 15 statements, your child is likely to have an anxiety disorder. If you have marked more than 7, your child is at risk of developing one. We recommend you to pay attention to this problem and work on preventing and treating high anxiety.
“I doubt there is anything that doesn’t make her worried. She is afraid of almost everything: darkness, thunder, elevators, loud noises. She is already nine and yet cannot sleep alone! I cannot even start to comprehend it. When I was her age, I was very brave, ran around playing with boys and told everyone that I am already a big girl. She, on the other hand, is a tender flower. She is so afraid of people, of new ones and even of the ones she knows. All teachers say that she is a smart girl, just so shy that she cannot even answer during the lesson, stays silent and can even start crying. At home she continues to cry and say that she is the worst, she is good for nothing, that she is stupid. She doesn’t want to do anything, no sports, no music, no drawing. She is afraid to do bad in them. However, she likes to read and she helps me around the house, so I’m fairly certain she is not lazy. I feel so sorry for her, I talk to her and try to console her, I never reprimand her, but nothing changes.”
Viktoria, mother of 9 year old Sasha
Children with high anxiety regularly display the following symptoms:
Anxiety attacks can be also accompanied by physical signs: increased heart rate, shallow breathing, dry mouth, digestive disorders and other signs unique to a child. [2]
Parents play a big “role” in developing high anxiety. There are, of course, children who are especially susceptible to high anxiety. Those are creative, highly sensitive and melancholic children. However, if the parents have found a proper approach to upbringing, their child’s anxiety can be episodic, never becoming severe. Let’s look at the most common causes of anxiety in children.
Children always copy their parent’s behavior patterns. If the parents always feel worried by something, their anxiety can be adopted by their children. A child learns that the world is dangerous and that they should feel uneasy about various things in life. Such child becomes thin-skinned, their fears spread to various life spheres. Even if the parents hide their own fears, the children can sense their tension. In such environment a child can develop chronic stress.
Any situation that caused severe stress can lead to higher anxiety level in a child. That can be parent’s divorce, loss of a loved one, serious conflicts with teachers or peers, disease. All such events may inflict a serious trauma. If the parents or a psychologist did not help the child cope with it, a child will be stuck with fears and anxiety. Even public shaming or failure at an important event can become the source of trauma, especially if the child is sensitive and emotional.
If the parents place high demands on their children, reprimand them for any mistakes, forbid them to express emotions and punish often, the children develop constant anxiety. In such situation children are made to fight for love and acceptance, suffer from constant criticism, aim to appease their parents by any means and desperately need their favor. It becomes especially hard if parents’ demands and reactions are inconsistent and unpredictable. Severe punishment and intimidation makes the situation even worse. As the result, children develop low self-esteem, self-doubt, become wary of the whole world, feel constant fear and high anxiety. [3]
If your child has high anxiety level, you must start treating it as soon as possible, or it will become a personality trait for life. Children will have a much harder time fixing them after they grow up. Here are a couple of methods to help your child overcome anxiety and improve their stress tolerance. You can use the same advice to prevent anxiety disorder if your child is at risk of developing one.
Let us say it once again: children are mostly affected by their parents’ behavior. In order to help anxious children you have to defeat your own anxiety. Once children see that the grown-ups are calm, trust the world and are eager to face it, the children themselves become braver and calmer naturally.
Before you start treating your child’s anxiety, take a moment to think: aren’t you asking too much of them? Reducing their load might be a good idea. For example, let them drop an activity (extracurricular, of course) that they don’t like. Never reprimand your children for failure and mistakes, or they will develop fear for any new activities. Help your child handle a difficult situation and show them that they can trust you. Remember: if a child sees you as a source of danger and punishment, they will always be afraid and lonely.
Resist your urge to help a child immediately if they don’t ask you to do so, and do not try to protect them from any hardships. Let them see that you are by their side and are eager to help when needed, but you believe in their ability to handle everything themselves. This way, a child will develop faith in their own abilities and will not resign in front of a smallest obstacle. Do not criticize a child for their failures. Instead, you should praise their bravery and independence and offer them your help in figuring out the ways to fix their mistake. This will help your child develop responsibility and stress tolerance.
Getting a small pet might be a good idea, even a goldfish, a turtle or some snails. Make your child responsible for some aspects of care about the pet. A child will feel big and strong, compared to a pet, which will boost their sense of self-confidence and self-significance.
You shouldn’t just accept your children’s strengths, but also the aspects that you consider to be weaknesses. Those aspects may simply be their personality traits that make your children unique. Never compare your child to other people, praise your child more often and tell them you love them regardless a situation. Safe and comfortable environment at home, as well as good relationship with parents, are known for reducing stress levels and boosting their stress tolerance.
Here are some recommendations of a French teacher Michele Borba to help anxious children. These are simple exercises designed to reduce stress in children. You can use them all together or only pick the ones you like. These exercises turn the fight with anxiety into a game, which makes it more effective. [2]
You might have already noticed high anxiety in your child and are already thinking about getting rid of it. This will require you to work on your child’s stress tolerance. Getting rid of the symptoms will not be enough, you need to change their deep behavior patterns. 7Spsy behavior modification technique can help you with that. It is a registered method of behavioral psychology, which helps to reveal mindsets that lead to high anxiety, and change them to positive ones.
The course is taken remotely and lasts from 2 to 6 weeks. Throughout the whole course your child will be accompanied by a qualified psychologist. They will support your child in case of any trouble on the way to developing stress tolerance. By working on our 7Spsy method, your child will stop worrying about small things and will learn to cope with stress on their own.
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