5 ways to help our children with worry

All children worry and I was a child that was overly worried about a lot of things, here I share my top tips to help your child work through worry

Everyone worries but at times worry can stop you from trying new things or doing something you enjoy. Worry is the human body’s way to protect us and sometimes it over reacts and we miss out on some amazing opportunities. Think of a roller coaster and how scared and excited you are as you line up. you worry about what it is going to be like and once you actually get on and experience it you may actually enjoy the experience.

Here I share with you my top 5 tips on how to help our children with worry but you may also want to use some of these tips yourself

  1. Talk about what they are worried about, what they are worried will happen and let them get it all out. Once it is said out loud they may be able to let some of the worry go. If they don’t want to talk about it they may prefer to write it down or draw a picture of it. Encourage them to throw the worry away by tearing up the paper and letting it go
  2. Reframe the words that they use. Worry as a word brings a feeling of anxiety when it is said. is there another word that you can use? you could make it really playful like I’m feeling a bit potato salad about going to school tomorrow as i have a test. I know it sounds silly but adding a word with a neutral meaning or something that sounds very silly will stop the actually feeling of anxiety in the body
  3. Don’t try to fix the problem or make them feel better. Allow them to problem solve themselves with your support. If they are worried about going to school because a friend was mean to them the day before what do they think they can do to feel better?
  4. Allocate worry time. this is a time that they can focus on what is worrying them. it should be no longer than 10 minutes and no where near bedtime. They may have 2 different worry times a day and they need to save their worries for that time, they may even forget some of them in the meantime
  5. Find a way that they can make themselves feel better and have this accessible to them. Self care is very important for everyone. If they are worried they may like to colour in, have a bath, read a book, kick a soccer ball around, build lego, bounce a ball, spin on a chair or go on the trampoline. Find out what makes them feel better and encourage them to do it when they are feeling worried