Fighting Childhood Anxiety: Here’s How

The common belief is that children are always happy because they have nothing to worry about. This is unfortunately not true. Some statistics reveal that 20% of children suffer from some kind of childhood anxiety.

Fighting childhood anxiety: the causes

Anxiety can be of different types and can have different causes. Knowing them can help adults. People around the little one can help in teaching him to channel his emotions.

The different causes of childhood anxiety are due to the age of the little one. However, there may be common reasons that arise before adolescence.

• Physical or psychological abuse.
• Conflict between parents that causes stress.
• Abandonment by one of the parents.
• Traumatic events of any kind.
• Economic crisis in the family.
• Excessive responsibility for the age of the child.
• Important changes in the baby’s daily life: change of residence, birth of a sibling, death of a family member, etc.
• Lack of routine and order. Constant changes in nutrition and sleep cycle.

• Need for contact with one or both parents.
• Uncomfortable situations at school.
• Lack of clearly identifiable rules and limits by the child.
• Lack of physical activity.
• Excessive consumption of sugar.

• Excessive tiredness from too many daily activities.
•  Fear.
• Lack of confidence and self-esteem.
• Separation anxiety from parents.

Parents or guardians are responsible for recognizing the causes of childhood anxiety and remedying it.

Fighting Childhood Anxiety: Here’s How

1. Avoid blame

Very common when a child suffers from anxiety is that the parents feel anxious for them. It sounds like a tongue twister but it explains well enough the guilt that many parents feel for the suffering of their children.

Feeling guilty doesn’t help, it actually makes the situation worse. A parent who acts on guilt makes bad decisions. At this point it is good to distinguish between responsibility and guilt and start making the necessary decisions.

2. Talk

It may seem like obvious advice, but some parents don’t take it as such. Let the little one let off steam and pay attention to what is bothering him.

At this point, however, it is important not to force the baby to speak, as this can have the opposite effect of what you want. To stimulate dialogue, avoid lecturing, because establishing a bond of trust and affection is more important. So that the little one feels he can confide freely.

3. Lead by example

The little one learns to manage problems and emotions from the parents. The latter must behave like role models: cope with stressful situations as they would like their children to do.

4. The diet

Excessive sugar consumption can alter children’s behavior. Little ones naturally have a lot of energy, with an excess of sugar the body looks for alternative ways to process it.

Furthermore, the little one is probably not given the space to vent this energy.

5. Demanding what is possible

Nobody’s perfect. Parents need to make a child feel loved despite his or her flaws and mistakes.

Excessive needs can cause a lot of anxiety in the child. An example of this are grades and school notes. The same can happen in sports. Children who feel they need to be perfect are more likely to suffer from anxiety.

6. Fighting childhood anxiety with love

How to help a child in such a stressful, anxiety-provoking situation? In order for a person to be able to cope with certain situations, they must feel capable of doing so. This concept is closely related to self-esteem.

In order for a little one to feel confident in himself, he must know that his parents’ love is unconditional. The affection towards him is not proportionate to how he behaves or to his grades in school.

This includes constant displays of affection, spending time together, and making him feel appreciated. Always be a concrete support for the child.