There are different ways in which parents can handle their children’s anxiety; some more effective than others. Methods that increase anxiety include: excessively reassuring the child, being too directive, permitting or encouraging avoidance, and becoming impatient with your child. More useful methods for handling children’s anxiety includes: not allowing avoidance, helping the child to independently manage his/her anxiety in a constructive manner, and reducing reassurance-seeking by ignoring this behaviour. Steps which reduce anxiety include: •Summarise what your child has said. Check the accuracy of your understanding of the problem. •Help children to come up with their own suggestions for reducing anxiety. •Go through each strategy that the child suggests: the consequences and possible outcomes. The overall goal is to problem-solve with the child to find an appropriate solution. •Encourage the child to think things through, ask questions and explore all possibilities. •Prompt the child to select the strategy that is most likely to result in a positive outcome. •Teach the child relaxation exercises. ----The Parent Centre
Perhaps you want to submit an article to www.popcornmagazine.net , for Popcorn Magazine fro Children(R) I love your approach to this subject. We pay, but it must also be written for kids to read in order for us to publish it.
Thursday, February 26th 2009 at 8:07AM
Charlene Coleman
