How to Help Your Anxious Child: Effective Strategies for Parents
Are you a parent of an anxious kid? Then you know what it’s like. Sometimes it may feel like anxiety is running the household. And often times it can be. Our constant attempts to minimize our child’s anxiety can often dictate our day, change our normal family routines and make us feel completely stuck.
This is what I call, unsuccessfully working within our child’s anxiety cycle, which is actually only perpetuating and strengthening the anxiety. I get it, we are smart, caring and devoted parents. We will tirelessly do anything for our kids to keep them happy and healthy, so how did we end up here?
I think there are two reasons.
Firstly
We have to function, aka we have to get out the door and get to school and work and that dance or soccer practice. The show must go on. And when our kids have such big emotional reactions to anything that may cause them anxiety, we often accommodate the anxiety just to keep the day moving.
Second
We are human, and it is so difficult to see our children in distress. We want to scoop them up and take it all away, which often also results in giving in to or avoiding situations or things that are distressing or anxiety provoking for our kids. And while our intentions are in the right place, ultimately, we are only able to give our children short term relief.
So, what do we do?
Eli Lebowitz at the Yale School of Medicine and his SPACE program (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) has given us some answers. The SPACE program is a scientifically proven program for parents to reduce children’s anxiety.
It teaches us how to reduce the ways in which parents accommodate their child’s anxiety and help children to move through their distress with a validating and encouraging parent by their side. It is not easy work, but we are here to help. Our child and family therapist specialize in working with parents of anxious children and are SPACE trained. We are here to support and encourage you as you encourage your child and help them build their confidence and lifelong skills to manage anxiety.
Author - Lindsey Golomb, LPC, RPT
Meet Lindsey Golomb, a family-focused therapist and registered play therapist offering expert care in anxiety, OCD, and trauma for children, teens, and perinatal clients. With over 12 years of experience, Lindsey uses evidence-based approaches like SPACE, EMDR, and mindfulness to foster resilience and healing. Accepting new patients in DC and Virginia.
