Helping To Control Child Anxiety

Some toddlers will go through a phase where they start acting strangely around certain people. This can sometimes happen for no apparent reason and can be people they know. This type of child anxiety will normally resolve itself, but there are things you can do in the mean time to help to reduce the level of anxiety your toddler feels.

What causes child anxiety

In order to reduce child anxiety you will need to find a cause and work with your toddler. This article looks at ways to help reduce the level of child anxiety and teach your toddler how to cope when they are feeling stressed.

When your toddler gets stressed or anxious, talk to your child and ask them what made them feel that way. It may be a certain person is in the room, there are to many people surrounding them, the noise level is a lot higher than what they are used to or it could be a combination of factors. What ever it is, it is important to identify what is causing anxiety problems in your toddler.

Once you have identified the problem, the next step is to calm your toddler down. For this step I use the “invisible sun glasses “ technique.

Reduce child anxiety with the invisible sunglasses technique

The invisible sunglasses technique is a method of reducing child anxiety that allows your toddler to clam down and regain their composure with out taking them out of the stressful environment.

By not taking your toddler straight out of that environment it means that your toddler has a chance to learn and understand what is going on around them, without feeling threatened and can start to become accustomed to that environment.

How to reduce anxiety in your toddler

Before going into a situation where you know your toddlers anxiety level is going to rise, do the following:

• Buy your toddler a pair of dark sunglasses
• Explain to your toddler that when they put the sunglasses on they become invisible and no one can see them (get them to try the glasses on and pretend they have disappeared and your cant see them, act surprised they have reappeared when they take them off)
• Tell your toddler that if they see someone they don’t like then all they have to do is put on the sunglasses and that person cannot see them any more
• Tell your toddler that if they still don’t like the situation then they can go to a quieter place (a quiet corner/beanbag etc) or go to you for cuddles. You should try and encourage your toddler to stay in the same room and if they go to you, you should try and distract them (with a toy/drink etc) as soon as they are calm enough.

If you know the person that your toddler feels anxious about then you may want to explain to them about the sunglasses as they can then play along.

To help this technique work, you should start using it in familiar surroundings, such as at home, so your toddler feels less stressed.

Example of reducing anxiety and stress in toddlers

For example, I used to look after a little boy called James and I would always take him around my friend’s house (my friend is loud and quite a large lady). James had never had a problem going round there before, but one morning my friend popped round and James started acting very strangely. He would not leave my side, would not talk to my friend, kept crying for no reason and always wanted to be in a different room to her. He could not explain why (partly because his speech was not developed enough and I don’t think he honestly knew).

The next time my friend came round I had told them both about the invisible glasses. Admittedly James spent most of the hour with the sunglasses on and was near me but he was a lot calmer. We kept using the sunglasses technique and James is now a lot better. He relies on the glasses a lot less and there has been a big change in how he reacts to new people or people he is unsure of.

Reducing stress in toddlers

This technique is never going to be a quick fix and work over night. Instead it is going to take time to develop and build your toddlers confidence. You should also remember that there is always going to be a cause to your toddler’s anxiety. This could be something as simple as being told of by a certain person to something a lot more serious, so you should try to work out the cause of your child's anxiety problems.

How to deal with child anxiety

Things to remember:

• Explain the invisible sun glasses technique in simple language that your toddler will understand
• Praise and encourage your toddler to use the child anxiety reducing technique
• Understand that there is probably an underlying cause for your toddlers anxiety problems

Check out this link for other techniques to help toddler anxiety.