6 Anxiety Tips for Kids and Teens

Dec 16

Anxiety, it’s the top issue we treat in our clinics and the CDC reports that currently, 4.4 million children have diagnosable anxiety disorders. Whether your kids and teens have high rates of anxiety throughout their day or deal with it from time to time, we have some tips to quickly tame it.

Anxiety acts like a real bully sometimes.

We call it the Tiny Taunter and it wants to boss us around, wants us to avoid and stay cozy so that we don’t have to be uncomfortable or do anything that causes us to feel out of control. The problem is, this all makes anxiety worse. The longer we avoid it the bigger it becomes over time.

We first need to recognize the anxious feeling.

Many kids report noticing the anxious feeling in their chest. Some kids say their heart races, thoughts flood their mind, they get hot, their tummy starts to hurt and may even feel dizzy or have an out of body feeling.

Once we recognize this feeling we can label it. “Right now, I’m feeling anxious.” Then you can begin some quick coping skills that aim to change your state and focus on something else temporarily until you are calm enough to problem solve.

6 Things your Children Can Do to Process Anxiety:

1. Do 15 jumping jacks

2. Name two things you can look forward to

3. Take 5 slow deep breaths, in and out

4. Name 5 things I can see and 4 things I can hear

5. Talk back to the feeling, say what is more true instead. For example: Anxiety or the Tiny Taunter says, “You are going to fail the test”, you can say “I am prepared, I am going to do my best”.

6. Picture your favorite place to visit. Imagine it in as many details and colors as you can. Maybe it’s sitting at grandma’s counter eating a fresh baked cookie, walking through Disneyland, reading in your favorite nook of the library…whatever makes you feel peaceful and happy.

Conclusion: There’s so many coping skills you can try with your kids when they are anxious. The trick is not letting anxiety take control and boss us around.

How does anxiety show up in your life and family? Comment below!