A Parent’s Journey Through Anxiety and Autism Autism can be a confusing disorder because it often comes with so many other comorbid conditions. Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can show signs of anxiety, OCD and ADHD. Initially it can be hard for parents and even professionals to get an accurate diagnosis. In this month’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast segment Member Spotlight, I talk to […]
How to Help Anxious Kids Help Themselves It is hard to watch our anxious kids suffer. It is hard to stomach their pain. It is very tempting to swoop in and protect them. To soften their fall. To protect them from feeling discomfort. But that is robbing them of the opportunity to build their skills. I find that the best way to help anxious kids […]
How to Spot OCD Symptoms in Teens Most kids with OCD go into adulthood without a diagnosis. This means years of feeling different. Years of feeling ashamed. And years of little to no support. If parents and therapists can learn how to spot OCD symptoms in teens, we could help them save years of unnecessary pain and suffering. OCD requires a very specific therapeutic approach […]
What is Emotional Contamination OCD? OCD can wreak havoc in any family. But one sub-type of OCD that can be particularly painful is emotional contamination OCD. Emotional contamination issues can hurt family relationships and confuse parents. Sadly most people, even mental health professionals, understand very little about how OCD can manifest. OCD isn’t just about germs and constant cleaning. OCD has many themes and sub-types. […]
Moving our Kids with Anxiety or OCD from Dependency to Resiliency We all do things for our kids. But there comes a time when we do too much. We inadvertently send a message that they are not capable of doing things for themselves. Ironically this directly impacts their ability to independently fight their anxiety or OCD. In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival […]
Three Ways to Help Anxious Kids with Picky Eating If your child is anxious, they are more likely to be a picky eater as well. This makes sense if you really think about it. Anxiety loves to scare our kids. It’s too dark. It’s too dangerous. Anxiety likes to whisper things about food too. It’s too chewy. It’s too smelly. What if’s like to have […]
A Parent’s Journey Through Separation Anxiety Clinical Separation Anxiety isn’t a toddler problem. In fact, symptoms often start to show up when kids are in elementary or middle school. Separation Anxiety Disorder isn’t about having a toddler follow you around. It is about having a child who experiences sheer panic when they are not by your side. It is about having a child who needs […]
Three of the Most Commonly Missed Compulsions in Childhood OCD OCD loves to hide. It loves to go undetected. We often think that compulsions are obvious behaviors, like over washing or over straightening. Things that we can see. Things we can measure. But compulsions are often so much more complicated than that. They can be subtle. They can hide in plain sight. In this week’s […]
As a parent to children with anxiety or OCD, our “normal” wasn’t that “normally” anyway. But now this new normal is taking us to new heights of abnormal.
In this week’s podcast episode I tackle the most common struggles parents are having as they continue to raise kids with anxiety and OCD during this pandemic.
Raising a child during a pandemic is a BIG challenge. But when you add anxiety and OCD to the mix, it can be a tall order to handle.
When you are a parent raising kids with anxiety or OCD you can encounter some awkward situations. Like what do you do when a close friend says ignorant things about your child’s anxiety or OCD. Or how do you handle sleepovers when you know your child might not make it through the night?
We are living in an ever changing world. Our kids are living in an ever changing world. This might be a scary notion to many, especially considering what is going on in our world right now.
But what if we had the capability of improving our child’s resilience? What if we could teach our kids to systematically move towards their fears instead of away from them. What if we could teach our kids how to build up their ability to be adaptable, flexible and thrive under challenging conditions.
Our kids are home indefinitely. Classes are cancelled. Parties, sporting events and extracurriculars – all gone for now. Many of our pantries look like we are waiting for a hurricane to hit.
So how are we supposed to help our kids not panic?
How are we supposed to help our kids develop a new routine and not go stir crazy?
How are we supposed to keep our own anxiety in check so it doesn’t rub off on our children?
In this monthly series on the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I interview parents from the AT Parenting Community as part of our member spotlight. In this month’s episode, I talk to Tiffany as she shares with us her trials and tribulations of raising a child with OCD. She discusses how she learned her son’s tics were really OCD compulsions and the struggle she had finding a professional skilled in treating OCD.
Many of us fantasized what parenthood would look like way before we had children. Our ideas of parenthood might have been solidified in early childhood, as we tucked our baby doll in her toy crib. Or it may have been dreamt about the moment we knew we were about to become a parent.
