Is your child or teen experiencing symptoms of anxiety? Anxiety doesn’t always look like what we imagine. Below are some ways that anxiety symptoms often show up in children and teens:

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Anxiety symptoms in children include:

● Irritability

● Big reactions to small problems

● Headaches

● Stomach aches

● Rudeness to parents or siblings

● Difficulty falling or staying asleep

● Looking for reassurance

● Excessive fear or worries

● Avoiding certain situations or activities

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A child with anxiety might look like they are acting out, being naughty or just constantly being difficult. It is common for an anxious child to say mean things to parents or siblings, get into arguments at home and seem impossible to please. Many anxious children do well at school, are liked by teachers and other students and then come home and have big reactions to small problems. They often work so hard to keep it all together at school that they can no longer hold it together at home.

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Sometimes when a child is experiencing high levels of anxiety they also experience difficulties at school. They might have trouble paying attention or need to be constantly redirected by their teacher. Some kids with anxiety feel they are constantly, "getting in trouble."

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Many children with anxiety struggle at bedtime. Children might avoid getting into bed or once in bed make frequent visits to parents looking for reassurance that they are safe. Some anxious children wake their parents throughout the night or insist on sleeping with them. Nighttime is challenging for kids with anxiety because they don’t have distractions from their thoughts of fear and worry.

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While some children seem to be constantly anxious, other children have a very specific fear like not wanting to attend school, or a fear of dogs or being called on in class. Some children are very afraid of new situations or meeting new people. Others are so afraid of being embarrassed or of failing that they stop taking healthy risks altogether.

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Parents of an anxious child can feel annoyed or frustrated with their child or their child’s behavior. Parenting a child with anxiety is extremely challenging and can be exhausting for parents.

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Anxiety is VERY treatable! At Firefly Counseling and Wellness, we help children, teens and adults to decrease anxiety, build confidence and move through fear to live more fulfilling lives.

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When working with children we use play, art, games and lots of lightness and humor to help kids learn techniques for decreasing anxiety and worry and increasing their courage and confidence.

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At Firefly Counseling and Wellness we love supporting parents! We offer parenting sessions and parenting support groups. And we always make parents a part of the counseling process whenever we work with young children. Incorporating parents in our counseling sessions help children to create lasting change. ​​​