Life is so busy for all of us nowadays and this includes our children. We are aware of course that they are part of our busy daily schedule (how could we forget!), but what we may well forget is that they are often acted by the ‘busyness’ of our schedules and indeed their schedules. Their minds can become so full and overworked, that they do not realize they are becoming stressed by this. In some cases, your child’s anxiety may be coming from other causes such as a situation occurring in school or with friends.
In other cases, your child may be suring from low self-esteem and lack of confidence in themselves and often, some children have ‘learned’ to worry about everything; from forgetting to bring a copy to school to fretting about their parents not being there forever. In all of these cases however, there are some simple practical solutions that can really help to ease this anxiety and incorporate well-being practice into your child’s life on a daily basis: An important reason for them to be identified and cured early in life is due to a general consensus among experts that psychiatric disorders in adult life can have their first manifestations in childhood in the form of such anxiety problems. If your child’s poor performance in the examinations or his changed behavior has left you feeling low, what you really need to do is to evaluate your child’s mental health. Because psychiatrists now believe that many such children could be having a form of anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder, although quite common, is most often overlooked or misjudged in children and adolescent .Which otherwise can be treated with medicines and therapies.
How can parents come to know if their child is suffering from the anxiety problem?
To an extent, some levels of anxiety are considered normal. Like facing a new situation, talking to a stranger and fearing darkness, thieves, animals, etc. It is when the symptoms take a form of greater magnitude that they are called anxiety disorder. This shows up in different forms and is classified according to the pattern and quality of the symptoms. The most common one is the generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). GAD may show up in a variety of symptom patterns: restlessness, being easily fatigued, always worrying, irritability and inability to relax; difficulty in concentrating or having the mind go blank, muscle tension, difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep, or restless sleep, specific fears, social phobia, too much worrying before even things happen, too many thoughts and fears about safety, refusal to attend school, frequent stomachaches and headaches and other physical symptoms. Although GAD can hamper the child’s performance in school, some may have this disorder even though they would be doing well in their studies.
Another form of anxiety which is often mild and seen more during the examination days is “exam anxiety or test anxiety”. This can develop during or before the exams with symptoms of anxiety and fear of failure.
Reason behind anxiety ?
In nearly 50 per cent of all the anxiety disorder cases, there is a strong genetic factor. Anxiety and fear can also be learned from family members and others who frequently display increased anxiety around the adolescent. For example, a child or an adolescent with a parent who worries too much may also learn to worry too much. Environmental factors such as domestic and social violence can also cause such anxiety problems. A traumatic experience like a death or loss of a loved one can be one of the causes.
Tips to follow if your child is an anxious child –
- Talk to your child.
Try not to ask leading questions; rather just enquire about how they are feeling that day or in that moment. Allow them to list out the feelings like on a shopping list. You could even grab a pen and paper and ask them to write them down. This really helps to clarify what’s happening with them and relieves the pressure they may be experiencing.
- Practice the Mindful ‘Check-In.’
Ask them regularly “Check-in ‘ with themselves. The Recommendation would be that you do this with your child to begin with until they feel confident enough to do it alone. This willem power them to tune in themselves. A great gift. Questions to ask: can you ‘check-in’ with your mind right now? If you were to give your mind a label, what label would you give it? ‘Busy,’ ‘calm,’ ‘anxious’ or ‘excited’ mind? Can you check-in with your tummy? How does your tummy feel? If you notice the muscles are a little tight, breathe gently through your nose and out through your mouth to relax down the tummy muscles. Once you have done this, your child will feel calmer and may be more likely to identify what is going on for them and it can also open a space for talking about an issue that they may be struggling with.
- Practice the P.N.B. Encourage your child to learn how to pause and breathe.
We call this N.B. (Pause. Notice. Breathe). We pause, notice feelings that arise but try not to make them any bigger and breathe gently through the nose and out through the mouth. This slows everything down and the more often your child practices this, the more they will be able to use it as a regular skill that is naturally incorporated into their day.
- Create a worry box
This can be a great resource for your child where they write down anything that is happening for them on a sheet of paper and place it in the worry box each day. They have the option of discussing it with you then. This helps to ‘de clutter’ the mind a little and identify what is going on.
- Create a calm box
This is where your child chooses certain items that make them feel happy or calm. Use your child’s VS senses: smell (lavender/vanilla soap or beads etc.), touch (a teddy, soft cushion,
play dough, stress ball), sight (funny photo or photo of a precious memory), sound (relaxing music or your child’s favourite music), taste (a small treat to eat). They can go to their calm box when they feel that they need it.
- Set up a relaxing space
Set up a relaxing space in your child’s bedroom where they can go to when they need to. Keep it simple – blanket, cushions, a worry box and a calm box. Not only is this space important in what your child will gain from using it, but knowing that they have this space to go to and that you care enough about them to help them create it can really help to ease their anxiety. It is so often the feeling that they are alone in their anxiety that causes them to worry even more.
Tip: Promote independence by allowing your child to choose their blankets and cushions themselves.
- Remember that these skills have a much better chance of working for your child in a long-term sustainable manner if they are used on a daily basis.
It is similar to brushing your teeth or eating food; if these skills are not incorporated regularly, they will be unlikely to take etc at a deeper level. Also remember that if you feel that the
issue with your child is continuing despite having used these strategies regularly with them over a number of weeks, then you may need to consider referring your child to a Paediatric Homoeopath /counsellor to investigate the issues further.
Treatment
Anxiety disorders are treatable in homeopathy. The treatment is based on a complete evaluation of the child/adolescent’s symptom pattern and intensity of symptoms.
For homeopathy, every case is an individual case and the medicine is decided on these individual symptoms.
Causative factors are more important than the symptoms. If they are identified clearly and the prescription is based on it, this can lead to a faster clearance of the disorder.
For kids developing symptoms of fear and acute anxiety before the exams homeopathic medicines can do a real great job in giving instant relief. Consult your Homoeopathic Paediatrician now.
Most of the information has been collected from experience , different sources , books , newspapers, clinical cases etc for the benifit of humanity and guiding people to adapt the new way of disease free lifestyle.
Dr. Vidur SN Vithal BHMS; DNHE; MD (Hom.)
Internationally Renound Homeopath & Nutritionist
