Children and Anxiety

In most cases, fears in childhood are fairly transient and short-lived. Different anxieties develop at different stages:

• Babies and toddlers might fear loud noises, heights, strangers and separation.
• Preschoolers might start to show fears of being on their own and of the dark.
• School-age children might be afraid of supernatural things (like ghosts), social situations, failure, criticism or tests, and physical harm or threat.

Infants and young children don’t tend to worry about things. For children to be worried, they have to imagine the future and bad things that might happen in it – this is why worries become more common in children over eight years of age.

Children also worry about different things as they get older. In childhood, they might worry about getting sick or hurt. In older childhood and adolescence, the focus becomes less concrete – for example, they may think a lot about war, economic and political fears, family relationships and so on.

What causes anxiety?
Some people are more likely to be anxious because it runs in the family (just like eye colour). People can also learn to think and behave in an anxious way by watching others, or by going through scary experiences. Certain things in a child’s environment might also increase the child’s chances of becoming anxious – for example, if a parent is overprotective of a shy child it might help the child in the short term, but can increase the child’s anxiety overall.

Ways to support your child

• acknowledge your child’s fear – don’t dismiss or ignore it
• gently encourage your child to do things she’s anxious about, but don’t push her to face situations she doesn't want to face
• wait until your child actually gets anxious before you step in to help
• praise your child for doing something he’s anxious about, rather than criticizing him for being afraid
• avoid labeling your child as ‘shy’ or ‘anxious’.