nervous

How can I help my anxious child?

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?