Children are amazing little beings, and oftentimes, cannot find the right ways to express themselves to anyone and explain what they’re feeling and what’s bothering them. Kids can develop anxiety and stress just as others do, and this can impact their social lives and everyday experiences. Behavioral experts are sharing resources that can help teach the child that always worries how to cope with anxiety and other difficult emotions.
1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
It’s known as CBT, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one technique where talk therapy is used to help people of all ages, including kids, recognize unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and learn how to change them.
For example, CBT often uses play therapy during a session to help keep a child engaged. Dolls, puppets, and role-playing can help kids work out a solution.
2. Online Support Videos
Another way that children can address stress and fear and other emotions is visually through online support videos. Watching these animated programs is excellent for helping kids with anxiety learn productive skills for turning worries into resilience.
These tutorials have science-backed effectiveness and include interactive practice, guided questions, and interactive worksheets.
3. Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Children can also be taught to practice mindfulness, which is a therapy that helps kids focus on the present and teaches them how to react during a difficult or stressful thought.
A mindfulness approach can help worried youngsters improve their mood and give them more choices and more control over their behavior.
4. Self-Help Books
Therapists also believe that reading self-help books designed for kids can help them address their worries and frustrations. These books come with colorful illustrations to keep a young mind engaged and have been written to help kids understand their worries and build skills to defeat those worries.
Many of these self-help books are interactive, meaning they contain both a story and an activity. For example, children would have an opportunity to draw and write throughout the book.
5. Creative Coping
The great news is that your child isn’t alone, and there are resources available that offer unique solutions to aid your child in managing their stress.
Anxiety and depression have been on the increase in children for the last five years, and the global pandemic had a significant impact. By the year 2020, studies show that some 5.6 million kids, or 9.2% had been diagnosed with anxiety problems.
Creative coping is a method that can help worried kids. This is a therapeutic art group, where children get together and use different types of artistic and creative interventions to learn new ways of managing difficult feelings, expressing thoughts and emotions, etc.
6. Guided Imagery
Visualization or guided imagery is a relaxation technique that can help a young body and mind let go of stress. Behavioral experts say that the technique is usually performed by having a child sit or lie quietly and imagine a favorite, peaceful setting like a beach, meadow, or forest.
Kids learn to imagine sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or other sensations to form a daydream effect that “removes” them from their present situation.
7. Music Therapy
Some children don’t want to verbally address their stress and anxiety, so music therapy is another resource to consider. Psychologists suggest that painting to music or deep breathing to music are just two techniques that can assist a child in coping with their emotions and help them regulate their bodies so they can relax their minds.
Kids love music, and music therapy is hands-on and engages the whole brain.
8. Play Therapy
Behavioral experts also say that play therapy can deliver good results for a child that is worried and stressed. There are a number of games or play activities that parents can conduct with their kids to explore, express and experience their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts through their play.
These activities can empower young children, calm them down and direct their thinking in a different way.
Worrying doesn’t only affect grown ups. Children can also feel stress, anxiety and a boatload of worry. The resources outlined above are a superb way to begin. You have many options to consider for a positive outcome.