Parenting an Anxious Child
Those parenting an anxious child may not know it and need to be aware of the possibility. If you were to ask a parent, “Do you have an anxious child?” Many would more than likely reply; “Sure. Doesn’t everybody?” This is not what would be meant by the question of course but how would you know if your child has anxiety and is suffering from fear, anxiety and panic issues?
Children and Anxiety are not a commonly understood issue mainly because parents never make the connection. Its not easy to do. In many cases the child does not even know or understand what is going on. There are some things you can look out for but in most cases there really is no definitive answer.
One thing to include in your disciplinary methods would be observing certain responses and particular behaviors. What is meant by this is, there are many reasons for misbehaving but sometimes there is one major underlining factor. Fear is an awesome motivator. Finding that one underlining factor which is contributing to the majority of the behavior problems can truly be the key to changing everything for the better.
These days more and more children are being diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder. One reason is that when looking into many adults with G.A.D. the research resulted in the extremely high likely-hood of having these anxiety disorders from early childhood. What was found was relatively shocking. Almost 90% did have Anxiety as a child.
Some children are predisposed to anxiety and this causes certain behavioral issues. Many of these children adopted this stress inducing behavior through their parents. A lot of good parents have high stress jobs and in stressful situations they, quite naturally, act stressed. It is not intentional but this can shine through to the kids. So then the child has anxiety from wanting to be more like mom or dad.
This is not an easy cut and dry situation at all. There is no one to blame and its always a good idea to avoid coming to any kind of conclusion until all the fact are in. This is especially important when concerning discipline and applying consequences. Things are very rarely what they seem to be in most cases, but in some they are just that. This is the important message behind this article. Your child’s behavior may not be so easily interpreted as malicious.
It is just something to consider during your parenting process. The best way to determine if your child has anxiety would be to ask yourself or your spouse if your under a lot of stress. This will often shed some light on the issue of maintaining a consistent positive behavior. Parenting an anxious child can be easily helped once realized. The real trouble is finding out if you really are parenting an anxious child or not.
