How to Help a Child with Anxiety about School with some Social and Separation Anxiety?
I’m keen to understand the psychological aspects of separation anxiety and childhood phobias. Apart from anxiety related to school, my 7 year old boy is otherwise pretty smart, healthy and fairly social with friends. I just want to balance things out for him.
Chosen Answer:
Since you’ve identified the trigger (school) of your child’s anxiety, it’s a first important step toward acknowledging the problem. Next is to understand whether the anxiety is chronic (happens every day the child goes to school) or only on certain days (e.g., Mondays). A lot of us adults also tend to feel stressed & anxious on Mondays following a weekend break — Monday morning blues — so relating it to the child’s experiences is crucial as well.
At the same time, you need to differentiate between something that’s part of the growing years (like separation anxiety in young children) and something that borders on phobia that may require counseling. I have a 9 year old niece with social anxiety, so I’m aware of the need to grasp early warning signs, including the intensity of the same.
Another thing to consider are the school-specific external triggers as well as internal triggers related to the family environment:
- Are there any factors in school that are making your child anxious? Like bullying by classmates, difficulty in learning, teacher’s attitude toward your child, etc.
- One example is anxiety that may develop if a child is neglected or lacks the basic need of security. If this is not available to the child, his sense of anxiety goes unabated.
While these may be difficult questions to answer, it’s important to consider all facts so you get vital clues to your specific case.
Understanding a child’s emotional response to fear helps you cope, deal with and treat your child with anxiety about school. This is as important for the child as it is to you as a parent.
http://anxietyfreechildren.ellsed.com
by: Ms Sparks
on: 11th September 11
11 de September, 2011 at 6:28 am
Homeschool and get involved with a homeschool coop and support group.
11 de September, 2011 at 6:29 am
NO! Don’t home school them! It’s the worst thing you can do, it teaches them nothing they’ll need in life no socialisation skills, nothing.
Honestly- take him to some sort of therapy and maybe have play dates with friends from school, so he gets used to being with them.
11 de September, 2011 at 6:33 am
Since you’ve identified the trigger (school) of your child’s anxiety, it’s a first important step toward acknowledging the problem. Next is to understand whether the anxiety is chronic (happens every day the child goes to school) or only on certain days (e.g., Mondays). A lot of us adults also tend to feel stressed & anxious on Mondays following a weekend break — Monday morning blues — so relating it to the child’s experiences is crucial as well.
At the same time, you need to differentiate between something that’s part of the growing years (like separation anxiety in young children) and something that borders on phobia that may require counseling. I have a 9 year old niece with social anxiety, so I’m aware of the need to grasp early warning signs, including the intensity of the same.
Another thing to consider are the school-specific external triggers as well as internal triggers related to the family environment:
- Are there any factors in school that are making your child anxious? Like bullying by classmates, difficulty in learning, teacher’s attitude toward your child, etc.
- One example is anxiety that may develop if a child is neglected or lacks the basic need of security. If this is not available to the child, his sense of anxiety goes unabated.
While these may be difficult questions to answer, it’s important to consider all facts so you get vital clues to your specific case.
Understanding a child’s emotional response to fear helps you cope, deal with and treat your child with anxiety about school. This is as important for the child as it is to you as a parent.
http://anxietyfreechildren.ellsed.com
11 de September, 2011 at 6:37 am
When i was13 I had this, my parents Split up and my brother(who was my best friend)
went to live with my dad. i refused to sleep alone (i slept in my little sisters room) and wouldn’t leave the house, and when ever i was made to go to school i would freak out and wag it and stay home, it went on for a year and a half and developed into ‘panic disorder with agoraphobia’, i only got better after 2 years (because i refused help at an earlier time). Im perfectly fine and happy now. I wouldn’t worry to much, you are looking out for him at an early stage. don’t go booking him into therapy just yet lol or home school him, just observe him and support him. he should be fine.
11 de September, 2011 at 7:52 am
Don’t push all those “disorders” on the kid. More than likely you are just enabling this type of thinking. Let him go to school and don’t make a big deal out of nothing.