As providers and caretakers, adults tend to view the world of children as happy and carefree. After all, kids don’t have jobs to keep or bills to pay, so what could they possibly have to worry about?

Plenty! Even very young children have worries and feel stress to some degree. Stress is a function of the demands placed on us and our ability to meet them.

Sources of Stress

Pressures often come from outside sources (such as family, friends, or school), but they can also come from within. The pressure we place on ourselves can be most significant because there is often a discrepancy between what we think we ought to be doing and what we are actually doing in Continue reading »

We all spend time in front of the mirror — dressing, grooming, or checking our appearance. This is especially true for teens, who are undergoing rapid growth and appearance changes, and taking new interest in the way they look. How they feel about their appearance is important, since body image can be such a big part of self-esteem during the teen years.

As a parent, you want to teach that there’s much more to people than appearance. You want your teen’s self-image to include personality, character, abilities, and his or her unique strengths and interests. Parents want their teens to appreciate and care for Continue reading »

Kids get to play and they don’t have jobs, but they still have plenty to worry about. Stress from things like school and social situations can feel overwhelming for kids, particularly if they don’t have healthy strategies to cope with strong feelings and solve everyday problems.

A recent KidsHealth® KidsPoll showed that kids deal with stress in both healthy and unhealthy ways, and while they may not initiate a conversation about what’s bothering them, they do want their parents to reach out and help them cope with their feelings.

But it’s not always easy for parents to know how to connect with a child who’s feeling stressed.

Here are a few ideas:

Notice out loud. Tell your child when you notice something he or she might be feeling. (”It seems like you’re still mad about what happened at the playground”). This shouldn’t Continue reading »

Continue reading »

Everyone, from the youngest child to the oldest adult, experiences anxieties and fears at one time or another. Feeling anxious in a particularly uncomfortable situation never feels very good. However, with kids, such feelings are not only normal, they’re also necessary. Experiencing and dealing with anxieties can prepare young people to handle the unsettling experiences and challenging situations of life.

Anxieties and Fears Are Normal

Anxiety is defined as “apprehension without apparent cause.” It usually occurs when there’s no immediate threat to a person’s safety or well being, but the threat feels real.

Anxiety makes someone want to escape the situation — fast. The heart beats quickly, the body might begin to perspire, and “butterflies” in the stomach soon follow. However, a little bit of anxiety can actually help people stay alert and focused.

Having fears or anxieties about certain things can also be helpful because it makes kids behave in a safe way. For example, a kid with a fear of fire would avoid playing with matches.

The nature of anxieties and fears change as kids grow and develop:

• Babies experience stranger anxiety, clinging to parents when confronted by people they don’t recognize.
• Toddlers around 10 to 18 months old experience separation anxiety, becoming emotionally distressed when one or both parents leave.
• Kids ages 4 through 6 have anxiety about things that aren’t based in reality, such as fears of monsters and ghosts.
• Kids ages 7 through 12 often have fears that reflect real circumstances that may happen to them, such as bodily injury and natural disaster.

As kids grow, one fear may disappear or replace another. For example, a child who couldn’t sleep with the light off at age 5 may enjoy a ghost story at a slumber party years later. And some fears may extend only to one particular kind of stimulus. In other Continue reading »