Techniques for Supporting Anxious Kids: Sometimes the Only Way Is Through

As parents, teachers, and leaders, we can offer support and presence to children as they move safely through their anxiety.

It was a Fall Saturday in October in the PNW, and I was driving my youngest daughter to her soccer game. We got stuck on the bridge spanning Oregon and Washington. Due to an accident, traffic had come to a complete stop.

My daughter kept asking what time the GPS said we would arrive at her game and anxiously watched as the arrival time on the screen kept moving out while we were going nowhere fast. On all sides of us there was bumper-to-bumper traffic.

First came the tears, next the shallow breathing, and then the panic. Through tears and shallow breaths, my daughter started making statements like “This is the worst day ever” and “Why does this have to happen to me?” … continue reading