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Help For Nervous Children

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Help for nervous children with phobias or anxiety

When kids have something that worries them on their mind, seldom do they talk about it. Usually it takes a keen eye of a parent or teacher to notice that the child is not their usual self.

Sometimes the child will attract attention by misbehaving or maybe just be introverted. Still they may not tell you that there is something on their mind. There are lots of issues that can cause a child stress from bullying right through to divorce and seperation issues. There are literally thousands of volumes of information about child psychology but using common sense and good parenting skill its really not rocket science.

Signs.

Is your child more quiet than usual?

Is your child showing a change in personality / misbehaving for no apparent reason?

Does your child really really not want to go to school today?

Does your child develop a sudden "ailment" in a particular circumstance?

Are they having a change in sleep patten?

Maybe bed wetting?

Sleep walking?

Change / loss of appetite?

There are lots more but these can be general pointers that something maybe troubling them.

Lets say 7 year old Tim is going to school....

In the car he has a " what if it goes wrong" moment. It could be about show-and-tell or a test or sports day or whatever. He experiences a little "panic" a little bit of the fight or flight mechanism. His pulse rises, his breath shortens and he feels a little uncomfortable.

Then he starts analyzing his own body and waiting for something else to go "wrong".

The next day on the way to school he remembers the school journey from yesterday and recalls the feelings that came with it. He then worries about getting these feelings again.

He suddenly feels the same panic and then it becomes a downward spiral.

The day after that he begins to dread the journey in the car and may feel that its the car journey or perhaps school that is making him feel this way and before he knows it he has developed an irrational fear of the car or school, when in fact - he is afraid of the feelings that the panic gave him.

This can quickly escalate into a major issue that over time is difficult to trace back as he will be "scared" of both school and the car and maybe even the song that was on the radio at the time of the "PANIC".

This is why addressing or "facing your fears" is so powerful. When we strip down what it is we are really afraid of - often it is quite irrational and the feelings of fight or flight that make us feel what we do.

Treatment

Your options here are many. The fist thing to do is get to the bottom of the problem - the root cause.
Sit down with your child and try to get them to talk about their feelings. Make sure that you make it clear that its very important to you to understand their feelings and whatever you do do NOT tell them they are being silly. Sometimes depending on the age of the child - you can use the third person option and tell them the story of.......... who was afraid of.........until one day he realised that it was just .........that he was afraid of.
There are some very good books that are written for kids for these situations that tell similar stories for the kids to relate to.
Perhaps tell them that you were afraid of ......when you were younger and its ok to feel this way but dont be afraid of it.

Help For Nervous Children

There is a lot of incorrect information written on this subject but if you would like definitive help for a nervous child then read this article or www.HelpForNervousChildren.com

check out my similar lenses -
child anxiety symptoms
and
driving fear