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 […]
Clinical Separation anxiety is not about age. It isn’t a baby thing – it is an anxiety thing. In fact many kids with separation anxiety don’t develop this issue until they are past puberty. Imagine if your mind told you that any separation, distance or lack of communication can put you and the person you love in jeopardy. Imagine if every time you couldn’t reach your loved one you wholeheartedly believed they were dead. Imagine if every time you weren’t with the one you loved you believed you weren’t safe. Separation anxiety can cause palatable fear within a child. It can make a child feel insecure and vulnerable. It can hold a child back and stagnant any emotional growth.
Anxiety loves to bother kids at bedtime. No matter what age or what type of anxiety a child has, bedtime is universally a struggle for anxious kids. Why is that? It is quiet. It is dark. All activities and distractions are turned off. Minds want to review the day. Ears want to analyze strange sounds. Eyes want to figure out mysterious shadows. Hearts want to be “kept safe.” When your child is scared to sleep, it impacts the whole family. Anxious kids don’t get a fitful rest. Parents don’t get a fitful rest – and the mood and irritability is set for destruction the next day.
Anxiety loves avoidance. It feeds off avoidance. It grows bigger, strong and more ferocious with avoidance. So it is no wonder that anxiety will make going to school one of the most difficult things an anxious child can do. The sad reality is – the more a child avoids school, the more they will fear going to school. It is a vicious cycle that many anxious kids can’t seem to stop. So how do you help when a child refuses to go to school? The key is in explaining how anxiety works. Explaining what feeds anxiety. Teaching them how anxiety grows bigger and stronger when it is fed delicious avoidance.
separation anxiety is a normal stage of development. Knowing that doesn’t make this phase that much easier to stomach! 1) Play games that encourage healthy separation. Toddlers who are in the throes of separation anxiety feel they are not completely safe if they are not in direct contact with their parent (most often the mother). You can encourage brief periods of small […]
In this rare and exclusive interview, we finally get to talk to a toddler stalker and hear what he has to say about his mother’s accusations! Reporter: Your mother calls you a toddler stalker. What do you have to say about that? TS: What mom calls her kid a toddler stalker? I mean seriously! Isn’t that just a bit inappropriate. I think she needs to […]
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