- Talk to your child about anxiety, what is happening in their body and why it happens. Many children and young people don’t know what they are feeling when they are anxious, and it can be very frightening and overwhelming.
- Help them to recognize anxious feelings so they can tell when they are becoming anxious and can ask for help.
- Tell your child it will be okay, and the anxiety will pass. It can be helpful to describe the anxiety as a wave to ride or surf that gets smaller after it peaks.
- Get your child to breathe deeply and slowly. (See: Deep Breathing Exercises for Kids)
- Distract them by focusing on something else. Engage them in an activity that they typically enjoy doing.
- Calming visualization: Help your child imagine a safe place - somewhere that they feel relaxed and happy. It may be a grandparent’s or friend's house or a holiday beside the sea which they can picture when they are feeling anxious.
- Progressive muscle relaxation: Most kids tense their muscles when feeling anxious. A simple two-step process helps children learn to use their muscles to relieve the physical stress they experience when anxious. 1. Tense a specific muscle group (e.g. arms and hands or neck and shoulders) and hold for five seconds and 2. release the muscle group and notice how you feel. Work head-to-toe to better understand all of the muscles affected by anxiety.
- Get to the basics: Make sure your child is getting enough sleep, is eating healthy, drinking plenty of water and has consistent opportunities for physical activity and outdoor time.
- Another resource to check out: Calming Anxiety in Children.
