If you want to not only survive, but thrive with anxiety – you have to learn how to protect the anxious mind. Our anxious minds are sponges to bad things. It files things away, only to torture us later on with it.
If you want to not only survive, but thrive with anxiety – you have to learn how to protect the anxious mind. Our anxious minds are sponges to bad things. It files things away, only to torture us later on with it.
Anxiety doesn’t just live in our mind, it lives in our body as well. It can cause stomachaches, headaches, dizziness, shaking, diarrhea… just to name a few. Teaching kids the mind body connection can reduce the anxiety felt about these physical symptoms.
We many think my sweet, anxious child will never do drugs. In fact, how could she? She’s afraid of her own shadow! I am right there with you. But our young, anxious kids often turn into depressed, overwhelmed teens. The last thing we want is for them to self medicate. That’s why talking about drugs when they are young is so important.
Your child doesn’t want to participate. Inside, feelings of worry, overwhelm and panic are setting in. Outside they are starting to feel embarrassed and angry. The teacher doesn’t get the hint.
It seems like more and more these days we are having to cope with some horrific things. Mass shootings, school shootings, bombings, hate crimes, environmental disasters and devastating weather are things that we and our children have to contend with all too often. How do we talk to kids when something bad happened?
I have gotten many requests from kids on my Youtube channel to make a video on how to talk to their parents about anxiety or OCD. This breaks my heart. Kids are struggling and suffering silently. Perhaps there are loving, caring parents nipping at the bit to help, if they only knew?
Dealing with extreme picky eating can be a lonely journey. Barely anyone gets it. People will tell you all sorts of things. Some to lift you up and some to tear you down, but neither wind up being helpful.
Helping Kids Who Think Everybody Hates Me! Do you find that no matter where you go or what your child is doing, they always say, “everybody hates me!” Perhaps it baffles you because you see your child talking to other kids. You see them laughing. You see people waving at them. They have friends to play with at recess. They are invited to birthday […]
It was bedtime. While most parents were breathing a sigh of relief and doing a mental countdown, I was starting to tense up. I was tired. No, I was exhausted. I hadn’t had a good night sleep in months. We were on a bad run.
Hands down the number one fear I deal with as a child therapist is the fear of bad guys. It isn’t surprising. I remember being a child myself, sitting in my bed, blanket up to my neck, wondering not if, but when would I be attacked.
If you have a child who always fears the worst, you probably get bombarded with questions like…
What if I die? What if I never wake up? What if I throw up? What if the earth blows up? What if I’m killed? What if you’re killed? What if they laugh at me? What if I get a disease? What if I fail? What if I have no friends? What if lightening hits our house? What if we have a house fire? What if someone breaks in? What if the plane crashes? What if I get hit by the ball? What if I get in trouble? What if it hurts? What if it bites or stings me?
If the brain can imagine it, nightmares can create it. That can be hard for a child whose brain is constantly coming up with the worst-case scenarios for every situation. And when a child with nightmares, especially an anxious child, has them often – they can start to fear sleep altogether.
When your body is changing, your voice is changing, your mood is changing- it can be too much change at once! No wonder why you hear so many anxious kids say, “I hate puberty!”
What to Do When the Stress of Raising a Child with OCD or Anxiety is too Much You are done. You can’t take it anymore. When will things get better? How long is this going to last? Will things ever change? Raising a child with OCD or anxiety can be beyond exhausting. You are not alone. Many of us have been there. We […]
One of the most common worries I see in my therapy practice, is the worry about bad guys. What if someone breaks in? What if someone kidnaps me? What if someone murders me? What if I get attacked while I’m in the backyard? What if someone is hiding in my closet?
