Anxiety is a form of stress that can be experienced in a lot of ways physically and emotionally. It affects the way people see the world around them. Anxiety can be seen as a natural human reaction, an alarm system that is activated every time the body and mind perceives that there might be a danger or threat.
When this happens, the body can feel sensations like sweaty, shaky hands and feet, breathing difficulty, fast heartbeat, etc. These sensations are called “the fight-flight response” are caused by a rush of adrenaline and other stress hormones that prepare the body to get a quick getaway from the danger.
Everybody gets anxious from time to time, especially when face unfamiliar or challenging situations like having a presentation at work, for example. This is available for children too, when, for example they have an important test or any other situation when the “what if’s” start to pop out: “What if I mess up?”, “What if things don’t go as I planned?” and so on.
This kind of anxiety is normal and it can be motivating because it keeps you alert and ready for anything. But in other cases, when the anxiety is too strong it can overwhelm you – thing that can make you a very clumsy person and in advanced states it can make you forget about things that make you happy.
Every kid experiences anxiety at some point. Some of them(and that also includes the ones who have gone through traumatic events) don’t develop anxiety disorders. The ones who do, however will have the following symptoms:
– have excessive worry
– sleeping problems during the night, and sometimes during the day too
– tiredness when they wake up
– concentration problems
– irritability
If your child experiences one of the following, the best way to help him is to talk to him and both acknowledge the problem in a supportive way. After that try to understand how these things affect him in the everyday life. Other persons from your child’s life, such as teachers or coaches can help you have a better understanding of what is going on through his life. If there are major issues, it might be the case to ask for help from a therapist.
Have you experienced these kinds of problems with your child? What did you do?
My little love always had a problem when she had to go to the kindergarten. Every morning she started crying. But I was lucky! After a few weeks she started to like it and now it’s ok.
My child has never experienced anything like it until now.