How to Parent a Child with Anxiety Issues
Parenting Kids with Anxiety Issues
by Amy Egan
This past year I had a few coaching sessions with a couple of two elementary aged kids. Collin, a fifth grader and Cara, a second grader. Our first two visits we spent mostly working on new, more effective parenting skills when handling Collin. He was a pretty good-natured boy but his parents had typical tweenaged frustrations with him. He was a little disrespectful, a little argumentative and tended to pull them into power struggles. They were becoming beaten down by these things – but more than that, concerned about his anxiety level. Collin was a very anxious boy.
We mostly developed plans for handling his disrespect and the power struggles. After reading suggested materials and a couple of coaching sessions, they began to do the following on a consistent basis.
