Anxiety can be a normal part of your child’s development as they move through the different ages and stages of their life. There are many factors that create anxiety including: parenting styles, whether or not your child has experienced a negative or traumatic life event, the environment at home or school, and your child’s specific learning experiences. Children born to parents who have anxiety disorders or mental health concerns have a higher risk of developing anxiety themselves. They may learn how to respond in an anxious way if their parents or caregiver shows anxiety.
There are many ways to support a child to access their inner peace, to learn a different way of approaching a situation that causes them anxiety. It is useful to have a naturopathic doctor provide tailored naturopathic support for your child as the role of diet (limiting sugars in our diet), nutrients such as magnesium and omega 3s, and individual remedies can be very helpful, so too can engaging your children on how to use their breath and mindfulness techniques as tools to help them find calmness when they are experiencing anxiety.
Two very well researched online programs, that can help provide your child with mindfulness tools they need to tap into when they feel anxious, are:
Turn Around Anxiety, which is a great research based website to help kids with anxiety, resilience and mindfulness
https://www.turnaroundanxiety.com/
and
GoZen! Anxiety Relief Program has interactive fun animated videos and great strategies to help children learn coping mechanisms to understand and identify feelings and change behaviour patterns to support them.
