A house packed with friends and family. Music blaring. Relatives beckoning and begging for tight hugs. It can sound like a hallmark card for most people, but for anxious kids it can be a living nightmare. Seriously. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can help anxious kids survive the holidays with some proactive planning!
Parenting kids with anxiety or OCD is hard enough but add all the “well intentioned” comments and thinly veiled judgments and it can be overwhelming. Learn how to not care what others think!
Many of us deal with kids who don’t know how to calm down. Kids who rage over the slightest issue or kids who get paralyzed with fear with any small change.
You may not know how to build your child’s coping mechanisms. Many of us throw platitudes like, “calm down” or “you’re fine.” Unfortunately most of the time that doesn’t cut it. Teaching kids coping skills can be hard, but it is such a crucial thing to teach.
When you are raising a child with anxiety or OCD life is more hectic and overwhelming.
Your child is scared in the middle of the night.
You stay up, listening about bad dreams.
You make the therapy appointments.
You read all the books.
You wipe tears.
You listen to fears.
You quietly worry yourself. You are the caretaker. You are the rock to your child’s storm. But what about you?
Don’t feel alone raising a child with anxiety or OCD. Tell me your biggest struggle and I will give you a video tip and resource guide based on your particular needs. YES! PLEASE HELP How to Help Anxious Kids Deal with Big Family Gatherings It’s that time of year again. Big family gatherings. Cue up the noise, the chaos, the triggers and the picky […]
You’ve read all the books. You’ve joined all the Facebook groups. You’ve started therapy. Now if your child would just get on board with the whole process – they can really make progress with their issues. But they won’t. They refuse to talk about it. They refuse to fight it. They refuse any and all help. How are you supposed to help kids with OCD or anxiety if they don’t want to help themselves?
Anxiety can rob our children of many things. It can rob their happiness. It can take away their ability to be carefree. And it can stifle their self-confidence. Luckily it is not all bad news. Parents can teach their kids to fight anxiety. And they can help boost their child’s self-esteem in some simple ways.
If you have a child with any type of anxiety, you are more likely to have a child with anger problems as well. This makes sense. Anxiety is like a pressure cooker. Stress and worry build up over time and eventually it boils over. And when it does – it isn’t pretty. Many parents I work with ask, How do I help my child with anger problems?
It can be so hard to watch your child beat themselves up. To watch them set standards to high, no one would be able to achieve them. To berate, insult and demean themselves. How are you supposed to hep a child with perfectionism?
Having a child with Social Anxiety can be rough for the whole family. You might be dealing with a child who refuses to go to school. A child who spends much of their energy refusing to go places. A child who, if they could, would love to blend in with the wall.
For OCD Awareness Week, I sat down with Chris Baier, the Producer of Unstuck: An OCD Kids Movie and asked him the most common questions I get from parents raising kids with OCD.
OCD is a confusing disorder and parenting a child with OCD can be a struggle. Here are three things I want you to know about childhood OCD.
In honor of OCD Awareness Week I am making this week’s podcast about the three most important things I want you to know about childhood OCD.
Don’t forget to spread your own experience and knowledge about living with OCD this week. Share your story and use the hashtag #RealOCD. The more we share, the more we educate.
OCD Symptoms in children is fairly misunderstood in general, but there are some symptoms that no one wants to talk about. These are symptoms that can be grossly misdiagnosed causing kids years if not decades of poor treatment and not an ounce of help. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I go over what these symptoms are and how to spot them in your kids.
Your child is refusing to move. Your child is thrashing about. Your child has been screaming for over an hour. Welcome to the world of kids with anxiety or OCD. A world where kids have a hard time coping, self-regulating and “rolling with the punches.”
This is my world and I know that for many of you – it is your world too. A world that leaves you wondering how to handle difficult behaviors that pop up all the time.
One of my favorite people to talk to about behavior is Dayna over at Lemon Lime adventures. Her upbeat, empowering perspective often gives me new insight into how to approach my own kids.
This past week I have enjoyed diving into her Calm the Chaos Workshop and have implemented so many of the a-ha moments into my family.
When you have anxiety or OCD – one of the biggest struggles is battling your thoughts. Constant thoughts. Nagging thoughts. Crippling, scary, overwhelming thoughts. They never stop. Teaching kids how to use mindfulness to cope with this relentless barrage of worries can be incredibly helpful. Mindfulness can help anxiety and OCD in many ways.
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