Do you have an anxious child? There’s nothing worse than seeing your child upset and not knowing how to help them. It triggers all those protective instincts we have around our children.

Many parents try to play down the problem, thinking they can help their child see things more rationally.
Despite your best intentions, this is a serious mistake. It doesn’t change how they feel, and it can also make your child feel like you don’t understand.

Below is a short 3-minute video which I recorded for you to show you a better way to handle the situation.
Your child is going to face many challenges as they grow. Watch this video now and it will set you up to help your child cope, now and well into the future:

Hello, it’s Sue Stevenson here. Today I want to talk to you about one mistake out of five that parents often make when their child is anxious. We’ll cover Mistakes 2-5 over the coming weeks, and just focus on Mistake #1 today.

So today’s mistake is that parents often say there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.

Now, imagine this:

Your child’s having a meltdown because they’re scared of sleeping alone, and you are assuring them there are no monsters under the bed. “Everything’s safe; you’re going to be fine.” Yet your child still begs you to lie down right next to them because they’re convinced that they just cannot sleep without you right there beside them.

Or maybe your child’s anxious about going to school and there’s tears and resistance every single morning. You’ve told your child over and over that everything will be okay, and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Yet your child’s still terrified, no matter what you say or do.

So listen up. I have the solution for you. Here’s what I want you to do.

Firstly, stop telling your child there’s nothing to worry about. I get that you just want to protect your child from any pain or suffering.

However, the reality though, is that all kids and adults feel scared from time to time. Your child really needs to learn that it’s perfectly normal to feel scared. They need to know how to cope in those moments when fear turns up, whether it’s perceived or real.

And we all know that most of your child’s fears are perceived fears, yet in their mind it feels very real and scary. So stop telling your child there’s nothing to worry about.

Secondly, encourage your child to be brave and accept the fear… their feeling. Because when your child learns to accept and embrace all their feelings, including fear, that’s when things start to change.

There’s a quote that says:

“What we resist persists”.

What this means is that the more we resist and when we push our feelings away, like they’re not there, the more the feelings hang around and cause havoc.

So next time your child is feeling scared – even when you think there’s nothing for them to fear – firstly, stop trying to convince them there’s nothing to be scared of. Then secondly, just kindly support them to feel the fear and accept it. Because this is a normal emotion that they’re meant to be feeling.

When they’ve allowed themselves to feel and process their fear, it means the fear can pass. Imagine if, in your whole household, you could all stop fearing fear and trying to push it away, and try to convince everyone that it’s not there and instead accept it as a normal part of life.

When you all stop fearing fear, that’s when you’ll start seeing your child’s confidence absolutely soar.