As a parent, it is incredibly hard to see your child lacking in confidence or self-worth, comparing themselves to others and worrying about failure. This in itself breeds anxiety; even if your child has the strategies and understanding to manage their anxiety on a day to day basis, if their self-esteem is low, that anxiety is likely to keep rearing its ugly head. I have been researching how I can support my own children to build their self-esteem and what I have found has been very helpful.
How to support your child who is nervous about going back to school.
September is a big time for children. It marks an end to a lovely, long holiday and the start of the unknown. The thought of going back to everyday life after a holiday can hang over you and make you very anxious. As parents, how can we support our children to feel confident about the return to school? Here are some suggestions about how you can help.
How can I help my anxious child?
Anxiety has three different parts to it, the first being the anxious thoughts: “What if they don’t like me?”, “Will I embarrass myself?”, “Is there a monster under the bed?”, “Will I get it wrong?”, “This may make me ill.” As adults, we try to help by talking about their worries and/or downplaying these thoughts; telling our children it will all be ok, there are no monsters and so on. Often we try to make it better by saying things like, “Don’t be silly, everyone will like you because…” We have the best intentions, but is it actually helping?