Worrying and Anxiety

What can be done at home to reduce worry?

Home-Based Interventions
Because anxious children also tend to demonstrate these patterns at home, parents can do much to help. Some suggestions include:

• Be consistent in how you handle problems and administer discipline.
• Be patient and be prepared to listen.
• Avoid being overly critical, disparaging, impatient, or cynical.
• Maintain realistic, attainable goals and expectations for your child.
• Do not communicate that perfection is expected or acceptable.
• Maintain consistent but flexible routines for homework, chores, activities, etc.
• Accept that mistakes are a normal part of growing up and that no one is expected to do everything equally well.
• Praise and reinforce effort, even if success is less than expected. Practice and rehearse upcoming events, such as giving a speech or other performance.
• Teach your child simple strategies to help with anxiety, such as organizing materials and time, developing small scripts of what to do and say to himself or herself when anxiety increases, and learning how to relax under stressful conditions.
• Do not treat feelings, questions, and statements about feeling anxious as silly or unimportant.
• Often, reasoning is not effective in reducing anxiety. Do not criticize your child for not being able to respond to rational approaches.
• Seek outside help if the problem persists and continues to interfere with daily activities.