2149: Helping Your Child with Anxiety by Dr. Laura Markham of Peaceful Parent Happy Kids on Supporting Anxious Children
Apr 25, 2024
14:10
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Dr. Laura Markham offers compassionate strategies for parents to support anxious children, emphasizing empathy and gentle guidance. She discusses understanding anxiety as a signal, teaching children to stand up to worries, and creating a safe environment for emotional expression. Strategies include deep breathing, seeking comfort, and gradually facing fears. Teaching children to confront fear gradually is compared to cognitive behavioral therapy's exposure hierarchy.
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Quick takeaways
Anxiety is a signal, not a sentence - teach children to Notice, Externalize, and Dispute worries.
Empathy and laughter create safety and decrease stress hormones, essential for helping children manage anxiety.
Deep dives
Understanding Children's Anxiety Triggers
Children can exhibit anxiety in various ways, from specific fears like separations or phobias to general worries and a chronic state of mild alarm. Encountering new situations naturally brings about some anxiety, which is normal. The key is not to eliminate fear entirely but to help children face their fears despite feeling anxious, building resilience and healthy coping mechanisms.
Supporting Children Through Anxiety
Children prone to anxiety require support in identifying and managing triggering thoughts. By teaching children about anxiety processes and how to confront worries, parents can empower them to navigate anxiety-inducing situations with confidence. Strategies such as deep breathing, externalizing worries, and gradual exposure to fears can help children develop resilience.
Building Emotional Resilience in Children
Encouraging emotional expression and providing a safe space for children to process feelings are crucial for reducing anxiety. Daily doses of empathy, laughter, one-on-one time, and routines that support emotional connection aid in emotional maintenance. Teaching children to challenge negative thoughts, normalize fear, and embrace discomfort helps build resilience and empowerment.
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Episode 2149:
In "Helping Your Child with Anxiety," Dr. Laura Markham offers compassionate and practical strategies for parents to support their anxious children. Markham emphasizes the importance of understanding, empathy, and gentle guidance in teaching children to manage their fears and anxieties, empowering them to face challenges with confidence and resilience.
"Anxiety is a signal, not a sentence. It's your body's way of telling you that something needs to be noticed and perhaps changed."
"Worry exaggerates and threatens with worst-case scenarios that are unlikely to happen. Teach your child to stand up to worries by using the NED approach: Notice, Externalize, and Dispute the worry."
"Empathy creates the safety that is essential for emotional expression. Laughter changes the body chemistry to decrease stress hormones that contribute to anxiety."