How to Help Your Child Deal With Anxiety - Top 5 Solutions Revealed

Anxiety is a natural human feeling that can occur when we feel threatened or we are outside out comfort zone. By having a sense of fear and being worried usually helps us to deal with situations in life and to avoid danger, if this continues and lasts too long it can become the opposite resulting in a debilitating effect. Long-term effects of anxiety include tiredness, lack of concentration, irritability, lack of sleep and feeling worried 80-90% of the time.

Childhood anxieties are a normal stage of development. For instance we can all recall as a child when we were afraid of the dark, insects, heights etc the list can go on and on. Do not concern yourself over this, this is completely normal. Separation anxiety is very common when your child starts school, they have been so used to living within their family's unit and their family's routines that something as new and scary such as being left on their own at school without mum and dad is very daunting for a child but again this anxiety is to be expected. These anxieties and fears do decrease over time as children to grow accustomed in new surroundings and experiences this is human nature. If you bring right down to basics we are 'sociable mammals' and have evolved to deal with new experiences. If we didn't we would still be living in caves.

Sometimes through no fault of our own as parents our child's insecurities and anxiety can get the better of them so here are 5 of the best tips in my opinion that will help you as the parent and the child to overcome their anxieties and phobias;

1. Understand That Your Child's Fear Is Real -

Discussing your child's fear openly with them can help greatly as words take the power out of the negative feelings when talked through with your child.

2. Do Not Dismiss Your Child's Fear As Them Acting up/Being Silly -

This is very common believe it or not, the amount of times I have see parents in the street reprimanding their child for being silly and telling them off for being worried/scared of something. Do not do this, don't belittle your child as it can make their anxieties build and potentially make the situation worse.

3. Confront The Anxiety Head on -

Again this is where a lot of us go wrong. For example my daughter had a phobia of hand-dryers in public lavatories due to the loud noise. This was leading to all sorts of problems such as she refused to go to toilet if we went out for the day and at school. Only by confronting the fear will it help, trust me by avoiding it, it will just gain momentum and get worse. So if your child is afraid of cats do not avoid one if you see one on the same street as you.

4. Encourage Strategies For Them To Cope -

Suggest to your child to tackle the anxiety head on. For instance if your daughter is afraid of worms coax them to go into your garden to confront it then come back to you before going out again. Really encourage her to have positive thoughts and to say positive things like, 'It's only a worm it can't hurt me I can do this', then if she become anxious get her to relax, take a deep breath and then repeat the process again.

5. Praise And More Praise -

This is very important, it may sound silly to us as the parent that your child is afraid of the dark but to your child this is a big deal. They do not have the responsibilities like us adults so their mind is only occupied with a small number of worries so this is a big deal to your child. Children love praise and respond extremely well to it. So when she makes a step forward such as stroking a cat or using the hand dryer in the public lavatory (in my case) make a fuss of them and shower them with praise and make sure you tell family and friends how far they have come.

You can check out my latest website over at [http://www.foldingshoppingcartsreview.com/] which helps people find the best folding shopping carts [http://www.foldingshoppingcartsreview.com/] for storage at the beach or shopping at the store.