Anxiety, Children and Uncertain Times
Inside this post - With all the talk of uncertainty in our world, for those of us with kids who suffer from anxiety it can be a difficult time. Some things to consider when helping our kids stay calm.
Anxiety and Times of Change
We’ve entered a very strange time here in our world. The last month has been full of news which can seem scary, overwhelming and just plan anxiety causing. These next few weeks will bring on any number of issues as we move forward in this new world.
As a mom who suffers from anxiety and has two kids who have General Anxiety Disorder it has never seemed more real then it does right now. I’ve had moments of just feeling overwhelmed, calm and then totally defeated.
We were meant to have been away for March Break this year, down to Punta Cana at an all inclusive that had been the only thing keeping me going since February 1st. I had to let that trip go and it was tough. It was hard to explain to our 10 and 8 year but even more difficult to explain to our 4 year old that we wouldn’t be going to the beach.
Working in the education field has also been an interesting time. Explaining to students and parents why the government made this choice was not easy.
All of a sudden I’ve discovered I have all this time outside of school, but all I can do is clean my house and hang out with my family. These things are going to be lovely, spending quality time with my kids over the next little while is going to be great, but it’s going to be and has been hard, to keep my two little ones calm.
So what can you do as a parent to help support your child through this difficult time in the world. As parents it can be hard to deal with our children and their anxiety while we’re dealing with our own anxiety. It can be hard as adults to put things into perspective while we’re dealing with little ones who either don’t understanding or are asking us, as the adults all kids of questions we can’t understand.
5 Things you can do to support your anxious child:
1.) Acknowledge the anxiety
Ensure you validate the way they are feeling. If they come to you and say “I am scared!”, stop and embrace that with them. It’s a great time to talk about how their body is feeling, how their head is feeling all those feelings. It’s so important here that we not just brush it off. The world can be scary to a little one and ensuring that we as their safe space can mirror their feelings and talk it through can make a huge difference.
2.) Turn off the news
As adults we want to stay informed in what’s going on. It can be hard when kids are constantly around to be able to hear and take in the news. Yes it’s important to be connected to what’s going on, but choose your time wisely. Perhaps commit to turning the radio on first thing before the kids get up. Listen to the latest new and then turn it off. Pick times in the day when you can hear and get updates without little ears or eyes. This can help you as well! Not having all the scary news in your eyes and ears 24/7 can help our anxiety.
3.) Create a safe space
This one might seem like it’s a no brainier, but where is that safe space? Your home is always safe right! What I am asking you to do here is to create a time when you can sit and give your child 100% or your attention. For example, at the moment in our house our safe space is meal time. With everyone being home we are making an effort to sit together at meals and check in. Here we find our kids open up the most about how they are feeling and we can focus on them and answer their questions the best we can. There are no distractions, no radio on, no TV and no phones or tech. We make eye contact, we seek to answer what we can.
4.) Distractions are good!
This is a good time to pull out those items you’ve been hiding. For example, I have few STEM items I’d put away thinking they’d be better for summer, they’ll be messy for sure but a great thing to take out! Use of video games, phones and TV are great, but also think about doing puzzles together, board games, reading books or watch a movie as a family. Set up the living room as a movie theater. These things are great distractions, take time but also allow for lots of close family time for those kids who need extra cuddle time.
5.) Reassure
Like very thing that is difficult, scary or challenging in life this too shall pass. Reassure your child (children) that this will not last forever. There is a period of time where they can’t see friends, can’t go to school and generally are sticking to the house. Some kids might find it helpful to call a friend either via usual voice call or on a FaceTime like call. Seeing that others are still around and doing the same things can help kids feel as though it’s ‘normal’ in a time where things are anything but normal!
Resources to help support you and your family in this time of change and anxiety.
Anxiety is real and so are the feelings:
Through all of this it is important to ensure our children don’t get overwhelmed and when they do that we support them to navigate the feelings. They can be scary big feelings. Talking about how they feel and helping them to understand as best we can will help to support their emotional needs.
Our world is changing fast. Some of this change we can adapt to easily as it’s gradual, other change is hard and fast. This is one of those hard and fast times.
Take the time to listen to your child, identify the anxiety, what it feels like, looks likes and what they think they need. This a great time for us to slow down with our families and enjoy them, as hard as it might seem!
Please everyone stay safe and keep watching here for more posts on to navigate this as we move forwad!
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