On the Coast – Families Issue 101 I August/September 2019 | Page 10

Anxiety
Be the anchor in my
BY LINDIE NELL
T
his article is meant to be a gentle reminder to parents
to check in with themselves when they are dealing
with their child’s feeling of anxiety. I would like to
encourage parents to notice how they manage their own
feelings of stress and anxiety and to be aware of their
responses when dealing with their child’s anxiety. Are you
anchoring them with your calmness or are you feeding into
their anxiety with overreaction, overprotection, or maybe
even being dismissive and pushing them into their perceived
stressful situations? Yes, you will still expect them to do
certain things, but how should you do this?
There are many reasons why children
can develop anxiety but for the purpose
of this article I would like to focus on the
impact that parents can have. This is a
letter from fictional 5-year-old Johnny to
his mother.
Dear Mum
Today was a big BIG day for me. It was
my sister’s first birthday party. Everyone
was getting up early this morning and
you and daddy were busy preparing for
Lilah’s first birthday party. I struggled to
put my shoes on and tried to get your
attention, but you were in the middle of
decorating the cake and I got frustrated
with my shoelaces. When I couldn’t
struggle any longer, I started to throw my
shoes down the stairs, screaming at the
top of my voice. The shoes just missed
Lilah’s head who was sitting close by. You
got really upset mummy, and you yelled
at me to stop throwing my shoes around
and get dressed.
What you don’t know mummy is that
maybe it was not so much about the
Did you get stuck for
entertainment during
the holidays?
Our July program listed a variety of
different activities right across the Coast.
Bookmark the webpage
and come back to it each
school holidays for the
latest program.
centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/schoolholidays
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ON T H E C OA S T – FAM ILIES
shoes at all. Last night I could not sleep
because I was really scared of the monster
at my bed. You told me not to worry and
that there was nothing to be scared of. My
heart was raising so fast and I almost
thought I could not breath. It took me a
very long time to fall asleep. While I was in
bed, I also remembered that a boy at my
pre-school did not come to school today as
he had the flu. I was worried that he might
die and that I will die too. And then just
before I fell asleep, I started to worry about
today. I wondered how many people will
Sc
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