Helping Anxious Kids Through the Summer Summer is supposed to be relaxing and fun. But anxiety and OCD do not take a break just because it’s summer. In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about ways to set up routine and structure to help reduce anxiety. I also talk about other possible struggles and how to deal with them as we […]
Interview with Dr. Shefali | Helping Mothers Turn Pain into Power Dr. Shefali is a prominent clinical psychologist and the New York Times best selling author of The Conscious Parent and The Awakened Family. In her new book, A Radical Awakening, she talks to women about how to take their pain and turn it into power. According to Oprah Winfrey, “The world needs to know. […]
When You Hit Compassion Fatigue with Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD None of us signed up to raise a child with anxiety or OCD. It wasn’t what we dreamed of when we poured over all the pregnancy and parenting books. And yet, here we all are, trying to not only survive, but thrive with our kids and their struggles. What happens when compassion runs dry? […]
How to Help When Anxiety Teams Up with Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Often kids will talk about FOMO, the fear of missing out. It is usually a casual term that means you worry you might be missing out on something good. Unfortunately anxiety can glum onto this and make FOMO a truly debilitating struggle. In this week’s Youtube video, I talk to kids and […]
How Understanding Anxiety & OCD Themes Can Help Your Child Anxiety and OCD come in many flavors. Often we even name these flavors with various titles like symmetry OCD, Harm OCD, Separation Anxiety, Emetophobia etc. Does it really matter what theme of anxiety or OCD my child has? Yes and no. There are pitfalls to wearing blinders and only focusing on your child’s anxiety or […]
Why Anxiety or OCD Therapy is Not Enough for Our Kids Many of us think that if only we can find a qualified anxiety or OCD child therapist, all of our child’s struggles would go away. I wish that were true. I wish that was the case for the children that I have treated and for my own children. But the truth is, as parents […]
How Avoidance Grows Our child’s Anxiety or OCD Most parents don’t see avoidance as an integral part of their child’s anxiety or OCD. They often don’t realize that avoidance is one of the fastest ways to grow anxiety. It is also one of the most common types of compulsions in OCD. In this week’s Youtube video for kids and teens, I discuss how avoidance grows […]
How to Help Kids with Anxiety or OCD When They are Angry Kids with anxiety or OCD aren’t just fearful, often they are angry. Anxiety and OCD can cause kids to rage, meltdown and talk back. It can make them dig their heels in and be oppositional. But when parents react to those behaviors in “typical” ways, they often hit a brick wall. Why? Because […]
Helping Anxious Kids Change Teachers or Therapists Change is hard on most kids, but it can be especially hard on anxious kids. So what happens when they have to change their teacher or therapist? It can be rough, especially if they were well bonded to the teacher or therapist before the change.Change offers our kids the ability to practice flexibility and can build their adaptation […]
How Living in the Moment Can Help Kids with Anxiety It’s nice to live in the moment, be in the now. But what if it could be more than nice? What if it could help reduce your child’s level of anxiety? What if it can train your child’s brain to stay connected and not live in the trauma of “what if’s?” In this latest episode […]
How Self-Esteem Plays a Role in Kids with Anxiety or OCD Anxiety and OCD will often take a swing at our child’s self-esteem. It can do that with the anxious or intrusive thoughts it bombards them with. It can do that by paralyzing them with fear, as they watch their peers not struggle. It can also be present alongside anxiety or OCD. It can help […]
Helping Kids with Anxiety or OCD Cope with Grief or Trauma It’s hard enough to have anxiety or OCD, but what happens when your child is hit with grief or trauma? It can feel like a muddy, chaotic mess. Unfortunately life happens and so do tragedies. Our kids are not immune to life happening to them, I wish they were. Anxiety and OCD are opportunistic. […]
How Online Support Can Be A Game Changer for Parents Raising Kids with OCD or Anxiety There are common stories among parents raising kids with OCD or anxiety. Stories of struggling to find a well trained anxiety or OCD child therapist. Stories of feeling isolated and alone. Stories of friends, family or the school not fully getting the depths of their child’s struggles. These are […]
Helping Kids Who Procrastinate “I’ll do it later.” That’s normally how it starts. “I have plenty of time.” That’s how it continues. “I can’t do it! I don’t have enough time.” That’s how it ends. Welcome to the world of procrastination. Anxious kids are either one extreme or the other. Kids who procrastinate want to kick the can down the road until the road comes […]
How to Motivate Our Kids to Work on Anxiety or OCD One of the biggest challenges parents face when raising a child with anxiety or OCD is…motivation. How do we motivate our kids to face their fears? How do we motivate our kids to sit in discomfort? How do we motivate them to even talk about their struggles. That can feel like an uphill battle. […]
