After the last few tumultuous years, it’s understandable if your child is experiencing more fear and anxiety than usual.
But children themselves may not be able to articulate what they are feeling. Unfortunately, those worries may dominate their thoughts and behaviour and interfere with every aspect of their lives if left unchecked.
That’s why it’s essential to know the tell-tale signs that your child may be feeling anxious or frightened. You can help them identify the source of their fear and address it.
The following NHS checklist will help you to recognise those signs.
Signs of anxiety in children
- Difficulty concentrating
- Trouble sleeping
- Waking during the night with bad dreams
- Getting angry or irritable quicker than normal
- Not eating properly
- Constantly crying
- Becoming clingy
- Needing the toilet more often
- Having lots of negative thoughts
- Worrying constantly
- Being fidgety or tense
- Complaining of stomach aches
- Feeling unwell.
What You Can Do to Help Your Anxious Child
Talking to your child about their fears, anxiety, or worries is important. It shows that you understand their feelings.
To help you do that, we’ve compiled a special PDF (extracted from the Think Spot / Philosophy for Kids section of issue 13 of Brilliant Brainz magazine) that helps them explore Fear and Phobias.
It is designed to help your child understand what fear is and to think and talk about what they are worried about.
There are 3 thinking challenges about fear, a fun quiz, and a section designed to help your child recognise their fears and face them.
Click the orange download button below to access the free PDF (2.48MB)…
Note: If you’d like to order a print copy of the magazine that includes this resource (issue #13), please click the SHOP link at the top of the page.