Colebrookdale Elementary

General Anxiety

All children experience anxiety. Anxiety in children is expected and normal at specific times in development. For example, from approximately age 8 months through the preschool years, healthy youngsters may show intense distress (anxiety) at times of separation from their parents or other caregivers with whom they are close. Young children may have short-lived fears, (such as fear of the dark, storms, animals, or strangers). Anxious children are often overly tense or uptight. Some may seek a lot of reassurance, and their worries may interfere with activities. Parents should not discount a child's fears. Because anxious children may also be quiet, compliant and eager to please, their difficulties may be missed. Parents should be alert to the signs of severe anxiety so they can intervene early to prevent complications.

Resources:

American Academy of Child and Adolecent Psychiatry Resource Center -

http://www.aacap.org/aacap/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Centers/Anxiety_Disorder_Resource_Center/Home.aspx

Facts for families -

Worry Wise Kids - 

http://www.worrywisekids.org/

Kidspot Parenting - 9 Things Every Parent With an Anxious Child Should Try

http://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/parenthood/parenting-style/9-things-every-parent-with-an-anxious-child-should-try

 Characteristics of school phobia can include reluctance to attend school, physical complaints on school days, or excessive emotional distress when anticipating going to school. When school phobic children do manage to get to school, they frequently visit the nurse's office and often request to call home. Stressors can trigger school refusal, including transferring to a new school, parental divorce, a parent returning to work or a new sibling in the family. Some children present with an onset of school refusal after an illness, injury or vacation that causes them to miss school for a period of time.