I have spoken a bit about anxiety lately, but it seems to keeps popping up in my daily travels, so I knew I needed to discuss it here again for you. It can be so challenging, stressful and discouraging when our child is anxious. And if we too, suffer with anxiety, it can make us feel even worse.
If you have not yet read my prior blog on this topic, click here.
What’s a Parent to Do?
Whenever our child is struggling, we want to “fix” it. But sometimes that is not quite so easy. When our child is anxious however, it can also trigger us greatly. Anxiety tends to show up in repeated patterns. So when it arrives, we recognize it (even though we may not realize it) and it can cause resistance in us.
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I know when my daughter was first showing signs of being anxious as a 7-year-old, I began to resist it. When she would show signs and symptoms, I could feel myself dreading the next few minutes/hours as I knew what was coming. Back then, I did not have the tools to help her navigate it and so I just felt frustrated. She would pick up on my frustration which would make her feel worse and then more anxious. It was a vicious cycle that I was making worse without even realizing it.
My daughter’s anxiety quickly spiraled and within a month of showing her first real signs, she had a panic attack. This is when I dove head-first into the world of anxiety. I read everything I could find. I scheduled an appointment with a wonderful psychologist. I took her to a holistic doctor to investigate food or other potential causes of anxiety.
Reaching out for help
The psychologist did hypnosis on her to help her overcome those anxious thoughts and feelings and it worked beautifully. The doctor took her off of gluten and dairy. He added some supplements to heal her gut, which also had the side effect of increasing her body’s own production of key neurotransmitters which are related to a reduction of anxiety symptoms. And we learned some tools at home to manage her anxiety, which I share here in my latest podcast episode of Powerful Parenting for Today’s Kids.
Or, if you are prefer video, check out the corresponding video here:
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