Many of us learn how to help our kids with anxiety or OCD, but are we doing enough to help them help themselves? Helping our kids own their journey is key to their long-term success.
Many of us learn how to help our kids with anxiety or OCD, but are we doing enough to help them help themselves? Helping our kids own their journey is key to their long-term success.
Most of us don’t love going to the dentist, but for some of our kids it can throw them into a state of panic and fear. This can become a real barrier for check ups, fillings and tooth extractions. So what can a parent do? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about how to handle the fear of going to the dentist one small step at a time.
Anxiety and OCD can cause our children to act in ways that can be overwhelming, disheartening and sometimes even hurtful. It is easy to fall into the trap of taking our children’s anxiety or OCD personally. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the many ways we can take our children’s anxiety or OCD behaviors personally, and what we can do instead.
It might surprise some people that the fear of throwing up, Emetophobia, is one of the most common anxiety and OCD themes. For those of us raising a child with it, it isn’t surprising at all! Sometimes this fear is triggered by an event or experience, but often it is the imagination alone that causes this immobilizing concern. We all throw up and many of us see others throw up, but we are able to move past it without too much residual impact.
We will all fall short sometimes and so will our children with anxiety or OCD. They will avoid, they will crumble, they will give in to their anxiety or OCD. That is all par for the course. More often than not they will view these situations as “failures.” They might beat themselves up or use the experience as evidence that they can’t do it again.
Summer is here and with that comes extra free time for most of our kids with anxiety or OCD. You would think that would be a wonderful thing. Less pressure from school, homework and peer interactions. Less places to be and less things to do. But for some of our kids that extra downtime can actually increase their anxiety or OCD issues.
It’s hard enough to parent a child with anxiety or OCD, but when your own mental health issues are added to the mix, it can be all-encompassing. But it’s not all bad. Having your own anxiety or OCD issues can help you be a better parent to a child with anxiety or OCD.
It is so tempting to try and rationalize with our child’s OCD. It’s a knee jerk reaction that most of us do at some point. We might try to problem-solve their OCD issues away. We might try to bombard them with facts. We might try to convince them that their compulsive behavior won’t do what OCD says it will do.
How often do we hear from family, friends, and even doctors that we should “wait and see” if it gets worse. We should wait and see if the anxiety or OCD grows bigger. We should wait and see if anxiety or OCD becomes debilitating. We should wait and see if it is truly an issue.
Anxious kids often have a hard time trying new things. This might impact what they’ll eat, what activities they’ll try or how they feel about going to new places. It can permeate their lives in a way that limits their experiences and holds them back.
OCD can be stigmatizing enough, but when you add sexual themes it can add another layer of guilt and shame. It can also make parents and even therapists uncomfortable! How are you supposed to deal with a sexual intrusive thought that makes you squirm? What if your child’s lack of motivation is due to the embarrassment over the content of their thoughts?
Many kids have fears of animals and insects, but for some it can dominate their lives. They might worry about seeing the feared animal or insect. They might go out of their way to avoid an encounter. It might be an all consuming fear that impacts the things they love and enjoy.
There are many things that can put a strain on marriages. Once the honeymoon is over it can be a struggle to agree on finances, household chores and parenting. When anxiety or OCD is in the mix it can make a hard situation even harder.
Helping Kids with “Pure O” and Mental Compulsions Many kids have what some people call “pure O” or purely obsessional thoughts. But more often than not those obsessional thoughts are quieted by a menu of mental compulsions that go along with it. So what is a parent to do if their child is doing unseen mental compulsions? I explore “Pure O” and mental compulsions in […]
As parents, we all struggle with our children’s tech use. It seems like most kids have their heads buried in their phone, computer or game console. But what if it goes deeper? What if they are using technology to avoid their anxiety or OCD? What if they are using tech to do compulsions? Or what if tech is part of what is actually growing their anxiety?
