Weber Wellness: Quick Tips for Reducing Your Child's Stress and Anxiety

With school starting, you may notice some subtle changes in your child’s personality. These changes could be due to stress and anxiety related to going back to school, starting at a new school, the transition from elementary to junior high or from junior high to high school, making new friends, or trying out for sports.

Stress and anxiety is fairly common in children, with 10-20% of school-aged children experiencing anxiety symptoms daily, especially during those last weeks of summer. Here are a few quick tips you can do to help reduce your child’s anxiety and stress levels.

Encourage your child to face his/her fears, not run away from them.

Avoiding a stressful situation actually sustains that feeling of anxiety or fear rather than diminishing it. If a child faces his or her fears, the child will learn that the anxiety reduces naturally on its own over time. Your anxiety will reduce within 20-45 minutes if you stay in the anxiety-provoking situation.

Teach your child that it is okay to be imperfect.

Often we feel that it is necessary for our children to succeed in sports, school, and in performance situations, but, it is important to remember that our children succeed at different levels and in different ways. Sometimes we forget that kids need to be kids. Often, school becomes driven by grades and a perfect score instead of by enjoyment of learning and what was actually learned. This is not to say that striving to succeed is not important. It is important to encourage your child to work hard but equally as important to accept and embrace your child’s mistakes and imperfections.

Schedule relaxing activities.

Sometimes fun activities, like sports, can become more about success than they are about fun. Try to engage your children in activities purely for the sake of fun. This may include scheduling time each day for your child to play with toys, play a game, or play a sport without being competitive. Be involved with your kid’s playtime. Do yoga, paint, have a tea party, put on a play, or just be silly!

Reward your child’s brave behaviors.

When your child faces his or hers fears, reward with a high-five, a hug, praise, or even something tangible like a small toy or treat. This is not to be used as bribery. If you reward brave behaviors, your child will engage in them more often.

Encourage your child to express his/her anxiety.

When your child says that he or she is worried or scared, rather than just saying “you’ll be okay” or “you’re fine” encourage them to explain why they’re scared and make it a conversation where you can offer them advice and work out the anxiety together. This will help your child to avoid the idea that you may not care about or understand their feelings.

Never give up!

Anxiety and stress can be a chronic struggle but with repetition of anxiety and stress management techniques, your child will learn how to lower his or her anxiety level and how to cope with stressful situations. Repetition is key! Have a regular sleep schedule and keep a plan of how to handle stressful situations. Remember to manage your own stress also. Kids tend to follow the actions of their parents so it is easy to see your own stresses in your kids.