Managing Stress and Anxiety In Children

Children need support in managing their own stress and anxiety. Learn how you can help your child.

Stress and anxiety are human emotions that we experience when we are worried about something or we are under mental strain. Adults as well as children experience these emotions quite frequently.

Adults may have mechanisms for managing their stress and anxiety. Children on the other hand need assistance to develop coping mechanisms. Without assistance, anxiety and stress can overwhelm them, causing them to cope through negative outlets.

It is important to note that when adults experience stress, how they respond, or react informs how children will respond to their own stress. In this article, we will look at how stress and anxiety manifest in children, what the causes are, and how to help children cope with stressful situations.

In this short series we shall begin by looking at what causes stress or anxiety in children.

Causes of Stress or Anxiety  in Children

The reasons that a child may feel anxious or stressed are varied. Whereas adults can manage most changes with ease, changes, whether large or small, positive or negative, can cause great amounts of stress and anxiety in children.

In children, even positive changes could be a source of stress or anxiety. Changes such as entering a higher grade in school, or an achievement such as winning a competition, can be a source of stress. As a parent, you may wonder why positive things would create feelings of stress or anxiety in a child.

Consider this, a new grade often means a heavier workload academically, and the learning of more complex concepts. A child may feel anxious about being able to manage the new level of work. They may also worry about whether they will understand the new material sufficiently enough to pass their exams.

On the other hand, winning a competition may create stress around retaining the top spot. A child may also acquire recognition and attention from a new group of peers, suddenly expanding their social circle. They therefore may feel anxiety about how to manage the new status and relationships.

Negative changes will often cause heightened levels of stress, and this is true even for adults. Changes such as loss through death, separation, a valued item or pet going missing, or pain can create stress and anxiety. Illness, whether brief or prolonged, can also cause a child to experience stress.

So now that we are gaining an understanding of how stress and anxiety are triggered in a child. We shall look at how to identify stress markers in your child, so do not miss our next blog!

P.S.
We would love to hear from you. Let us know your thoughts, as well as the topics you would like us to look into addressing.