Anxiety and fear are a normal part of your child’s growth process as parents are even required to train their children to be wary of certain things, like the hotplate or sharp objects. However, high anxiety and fear levels could seriously affect your child both mentally and socially. A few easy ways to determine if your child’s anxiety is getting out of hand is by:
- Communicating with them regularly
- Spotting irregularities in work or play
- Paying attention to their sleeping patterns
Additionally, these fears are altered or progress over time, depending on the child’s age. For example, while toddlers mostly get agitated when they get separated from their parents or people they are used to, a preschooler’s fear may evolve into a fear of darkness, social anxiety, and so on.
What you could do about your child’s anxiety
Since anxieties are a normal part of a child’s growth process, your support is usually required to help them overcome these anxieties. A few things you could do to support them are:
- Put a priority on communication: Talk to them about their problems and assure them that it will be fine. For instance, with a toddler, you should verbally assure them that you are with them whenever you are away. With preschoolers, you could discuss their problems and give plausible explanations and reassurance.
- Get them used to social situations they might be wary of: Let your toddler know who they will be safe with, you could do this by keeping them around whenever you are with a friend. Gently encourage them to develop a relationship with these people. You could achieve this by leaving them with these people for short periods.
- You could also involve them with childcare Chifley organizations: These organizations should help them get used to social situations since they will meet other children and go through learning structures created to help them.
- Avoid teasing your child about their fears.
- Afford them a little control: you could teach your child precautions they could take to confront anxiety. For example, if they are afraid of people breaking in, you could encourage them to close their windows and doors before bed.
- Reward them for facing their fears and anxieties: your child must overcome their fears. Rewarding them should help communicate the importance of overcoming these fears.
Signs you might need to visit an expert
Anxiety past a certain level could begin to affect your child mentally and socially. When this happens, you might need to visit an expert. A few signs to look out for to determine excessive anxiety are:
- When it begins to influence play, work, or school.
- When they become restless, distraught, and very worried.
- When you notice that they are clinging to previous fears. For example, it is normal for toddlers to have separation anxiety but abnormal for children over 7. These fears, if they are not overcome, could lead to greater fears like social anxiety.
Conclusion
Most kids eventually overcome their fears and anxieties. However, some could worsen and even develop into lifelong phobias. Whenever this happens, the best thing you could do for your child is to refer them to a professional.
