Physical or behavioural changes are common manifestations of stress and anxiety in children. Children react to stress differently depending on their age, individual personalities, and coping skills, which can lead many parents to overlook the underlying issues that may be causing their child's behaviour. It is critical for parents to recognise the signs of childhood stress and investigate potential causes. Parents can usually help their children cope with stress and anxiety, but some children may have an anxiety disorder and require professional assistance.
Children may be oblivious to their own anxiety and lack the maturity to explain their real or imagined stressful issues. This can result in a variety of physical and behavioural symptoms, and parents may be unsure whether these are signs of anxiety or a medical problem. Anxiety can cause children to act out in ways that frustrate or confuse parents, but it is critical for caregivers to recognise that these behavioural and emotional issues may be related to anxiety. Anxiety and stress in children can be caused by something external, such as a problem at school, changes in the family, or a disagreement with a friend. Onlymyhealth editorial team spoke to Dr. Soumya Mudgal, Consultant, Mental Health And Behavioural Sciences, Psychiatrist, about some tips for parents to reduce your child's stress.
Also Read: Here Are 5 Simple Steps To Handle Mental Health Concerns Among Teens
Tips to reduce your child's stress
Whenever you child is feeling stressed out, it is your responsibility to make them feel loved and cared. There are several things that parents can do to make their child feel better. It can be very tough to see your own kid distressed. Therefore, as per Dr. Soumya, here are some tips to reduce your child's stress:
1. Talk to your child
As parents, one of the best ways to relieve childhood stress is by talking heart to heart with your child. Talk to your kid about his life, friends, studies and all the other aspects of his life. It is important for him to open up with you and talk about things that are stressing him out.
2. Create a relaxing atmosphere at home
Relieve your child from any unnecessary stress and try to creat a relaxing atmosphere at home. Ease the anxiety and stress by not talking about certain things like academic pressure and social performance. Creating a positive atmosphere at home can make you and your child give up anxiety and stress.
3. Show him the positives
If you child is in stress, it is important to make him optimistic. Make sure that as parents you keep motivating your kid and try not to focus on the negative part of his life. Appreciate your kid as much as possible. This will not only boost confidence but also make them live stress free.
4. Engage in relaxation activities
Children also require time to relax and involve themselves in various activities. However, sometimes even competition in sports can cause them to stress out easily. Therefore, you should help them engage in activities that they find fun and amusing. This also includes scheduling their time in a routine every day to play with toys, play a game, play a sport (without it being competitive), doing yoga, paint, dance, act or just do something they actually love doing.
5. Adopt healthy habits (healthy diet, sleeping pattern and exercise)
Along with emotional connect, you also need to help your child in adopting a healthy lifestyle which includes a regular sleeping cycle, daily exercise and consuming healthy diet. At this growing age, your kid needs to take a nutritious and balanced diet along with regular physical activity, be it dancing, walking, running or swimming. The average sleeping hours should be atleast 7 and should be maintained everyday.
Also Read: Positive Parenting Techniques: Here Are 11 Important Tips To Discipline Your Toddlers
These were some tips for parents to reduce your child's stress by Dr. Soumya Mudgal. Every kid deals differently with anxiety and stress issues. Some try letting it out and resolving the problems altogether. However, some prefer keeping their worries intact inside and not bothering anyone. There are several ways to help your young one fight anxiety. In fact, the main aim is to help a child fight and handle anxiety and not just terminate it with medicines.
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