Modern and fast-paced life has affected children in many ways. Among the negative aspects, children face huge amount of stress and anxiety almost everywhere, inside and outside the home. Children do experience normal anxieties and fears such as stranger anxiety, fear of monsters, ghosts, separation anxiety, and performance anxiety and so on. However, if it extremely disturbs a child emotionally and mentally, it is time to handle the problem with a great concern.
Donât dismiss his/her fears
Do not dismiss the anxiety symptoms that your child exhibits such as becoming clingy, moody, experiences headaches, nervousness, stammers, shaky hands/feet, sweaty hands and increased distraction. Calm your child and lend a sympathetic ear to try and understand the reasons for his/her anxiety and stress. Brushing off her fears as mere imagination or tall stories might worsen the problem. The child will eventually shut herself from expressing or conveying anything that is important to you. It is worth listening to her worries as it is important for a child to share his/her emotions and concerns to you. You must take appropriate action if you see continued pattern of symptoms as it may seriously affect your child.
Open communication
Encourage open communication between you and your child. Let the child know that it is normal for anybody to express fears and emotions. Cultivate the habit of setting aside some time during the day to talk to your child in a friendly and gentle manner. This will instill confidence in the child to express and share his/her emotions freely with you. Make the child feel secure by letting him/her know that your help and support is always available. Listen with an open mind to his/her emotions and do not criticize his/her fears. Let her know that fears, phobias are real but talking about it to a parent or a helpful adult makes the fear less powerful. Offer him/her comfort and distract him/her by playing, reading or something that your child enjoys.
Donât pressurize your child
A child often experiences sibling, peer, performance and educational pressure. As a parent, ensure he/she has enough time to relax during the day. Enrolling a child in numerous extracurricular activities coupled with homework, projects can stress out a child easily. Give sufficient time for your child to unwind even if it calls for lesser number of activities during the day. Do not overstate the need to always give the best performance in exams and other activities. This leads to emotional exhaustion, physical tension and stress. Teach your child the need to enjoy an activity without feeling the stress to excel. Avoid comparing your child with any other child. This destroys a childâs confidence and can mar his/her mentally and emotionally. Enjoy and nurture the child’s individualistic qualities that he/she possesses to bring about a healthy overall development.
Be a role model
Children often look upon their parents as role models in most of the things they do. Consciously or unconsciously if you relay your fear, stress and anxiety it surely affects the child as well. Develop a calm approach in how you react to pressurized situations. Keeping your home peaceful and calm tells your child how you effectively handle stress. This leads to a tension free, relaxed and less anxious children at home. Talk to him about examples of how people deal with stress successfully both inside and outside the home. If there are upcoming stressful events, such as an exam or an important music concert, teach him to mentally prepare and ways to avoid the stress. Being a good role model has a great impact on the childâs personality to deal with stress in an efficient way.
Teach relaxation techniques
It is important for a child to know how to identify the signs of stress. Symptoms include stomachache, excessive sweating, unable to rest, fidgety, shallow breathing, and palpitation. Teach him ways to curb anxiety and stress with few techniques that will help him relax to beat the anxiety and stress. Reading a self-help book, balancing school and extracurricular activities, listening to relaxing music, exercising, meditation, deep breathing, yoga, eating a balanced diet, positive visualization or doing any activity that he enjoys and social get togethers, are some of the relaxation techniques which can help a child to be confident to overcome phobias, fear and stress. Parents must also educate the child against the use of alcohol, cocaine and nicotine which worsens the anxiety and stress symptoms. Stress on the use of natural ways, tips, tricks and methods to deal with stress.
