We only have a small part to play in our child’s anxiety or OCD success. It is their journey and we are only one piece of that puzzle. But that is a puzzle piece we can work on! Often our own erroneous beliefs, limitations or fears create unintentional barriers to our child’s long term success with anxiety or OCD. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore some of those beliefs and fears and how we can address them.
We all care about what other people think on some level. But does your child stress over what people think? Do they worry people don’t like them? Does it consume them and make them socially anxious? Caring too much about what people think can impact their self-esteem and create mental health struggles like social anxiety. In this week’s Youtube video, I talk to kids and teens about how to overcome caring too much about what other people thin.
There are many times when the actual theme of our child’s anxiety or OCD can undermine their ability to get help. How are we supposed to help our kids (or clients/patients) when the very nature of helping is triggering their anxiety or OCD? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the most common ways anxiety and OCD themes get in the way of helping and what parents and therapists can do when it happens.
Teaching our kids to trust their gut instinct can be a lifesaver. But what do we do when anxiety or OCD feels like gut instinct? What if intuition is really their OCD magical thinking in disguise? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the differences between gut instinct and intuition vs anxiety and OCD.
The best ways to directly help our kids with anxiety or OCD is through effective treatment, but there are some side dishes that can aid in their progress. When we help others it can improve self-esteem, mood, and purpose. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I discuss how having our kids help others can actually help them as well.
Having a child with anxiety or OCD can be a challenge, but when it impacts eating, it can become a major health issue. Many kids with anxiety or OCD struggle to eat for many different reasons. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore common core fears that drive restrictive eating and what you can do if your child has ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) or is working their way towards it.
Puberty is hard enough, but add anxiety and OCD to the mix and UGH! In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the good (yes there is some good), the bad (oh yeah, there is that too) and the ugly (plenty of that) when kids with anxiety or OCD enter puberty.
Anxiety and OCD can rob us of the things we love the most. It can also be a powerful tool to motivate our kids to work on their anxiety or OCD. In this Youtube video I talk to kids and teens about what anxiety or OCD is taking away from them and what things they want to take back
It is hard not to want to control our child’s anxiety or OCD journey. It is hard not to have expectations for how it should turn out. It’s human nature to want to do everything in our power to help our kids. But sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves and our children is to recognize what areas we do not control. Sometimes we can make the most progress when we learn to let go of expectations and perceived control.
A common theme among kids with anxiety or OCD is their health. Are they breathing? Are they choking? Is that bump going to lead to a horrible disease? This week I brought Dr. Dawn Huebner onto the AT Parenting Survival Podcast to discuss how to help kids who have health anxiety or OCD.
We all respond to perceived danger in different ways. It can help to understand the many ways our body and brains can respond to stress, so we are better equipped to handle it when it happens. In this week’s Youtube video I explain to kids and teens the fight, flight or freeze responses to fear and anxiety. I also discuss some ways to work through them.
It can feel so good when anxiety and OCD pack their bags and give you your child back. Heck, give you your home back. So it can be more than jarring when that unwanted guest shows back up at your front door.
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.
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.
Anxiety and OCD love to feed on avoidance. It will make our kids avoid all sorts of things. But the most powerful thing it can make them avoid is even talking about anxiety or OCD. When they avoid talking about anxiety or OCD they can’t make progress. It keeps them stuck in a loop that continues to grow anxiety or OCD.
