Five Coping Strategies for Parents of Children with Anxiety
Parenting a child with anxiety can feel overwhelming, but there are strategies that can help. These simple yet effective steps are designed to support both you and your child through anxious moments.
1. Take care of the basics
Ensure your child is getting enough sleep, eating regular meals and healthy snacks, and has daily exercise. When your child’s mind and body are nourished, tackling worries is easier.
2. Provide empathy
Listen to your child’s concerns. What are they worried about? Let your child share their fears and talk about what’s on their mind. There may be good opportunities to simply listen to your child when you are in the car, standing in line at the store, at bath time, or during dinner. Don’t aim to fix their worries immediately, just listen and tell them you know how awful worrying feels and you wish they didn’t have those feelings, but we all have uncomfortable feelings sometimes.
3. Problem solve
Once you know what’s bothering your child, you can start to develop a coping plan. Anxious youth are often poor problem solvers and doubt their ability to cope. Ask: “So what are we going to do about this?” Addressing your child’s fear head on, by creating an active plan together with concrete solutions will help them feel supported.
4. Focus on the positive
Once you understand what your child is afraid of, and a coping plan to address these fears is in place, you can encourage them to redirect attention away from the worries and toward something positive. Chances are the positives in life are simply being overlooked by repetitive worries.
5. Pay attention to your own behaviour
For parents of younger children or children starting at a new school, it can be anxiety-provoking for parents to hand over care and responsibility of their child to teachers. Children take cues from their parents, so the more confidence and calm you can model, the more your child will believe they can handle any new hurdles, even if some uncomfortable feelings are involved.
Anxiety can be tough for children and parents alike, but these five strategies provide a supportive framework to help you guide your child through their anxious moments. By taking small steps every day, you can create a positive environment that nurtures your child’s ability to cope with stress.