Managing Anxiety

Anxiety in children

All children (and adults for that matter) get anxious from time to time. Furthermore, some children are quicker to get anxious whilst others are quicker to let go of their anxiety. What’s also tricky, is that anxiety doesn’t always show as… well.. anxiety. This iceberg explanation below shows how it can be triggered by a range of feelings but also be shown as a range of feelings. This link here explains the signs of anxiety in further detail.

What specialists say is important for parents, is to help their child manage that anxiety so that the anxiety doesn’t control their life and they can become more resilient as a result.  youngminds.org.uk has useful tips for supporting your child, but here are Wicklea’s top tips.

  • Help them realise that they’re anxious, and help them find out why they’re anxious.
  • Show the love and affection. Don’t try and suggest they shouldn’t be feeling anxious but don’t also exacerbate the situation.
  • Model how you work through your anxiety to provide great blueprint of how to do it.
  • Help them look at the ‘best case, worst case and then most likely case (middle ground) situation to help them realise other options.
  • Talk through the worst case situation and come up with plans of what they can do if that arises (e.g. what shall we do if we miss the bus?)

If you’re looking for ideas for resources, this website has a list of some brilliant and simple ways to reduce anxiety.