According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 6 US children between the ages of 6 and 17 experience a mental health disorder each year.
In her two time, national award-winning book, “This Thing Has A Name,” author Amanda Bacon-Davis offers guidance to children and their loved-ones, from her personal experience of helping her daughter, to identify, normalize and tame anxiety.
“Anxiety is a universal feeling, and as parents and caregivers, it’s our job to help our children understand what they are feeling, to know that they are not alone, and to show them different ways they can help heal themselves,” says Bacon-Davis.
Here’s a few of the tips Amanda shares to help you identify anxiety in your child:
- Changes in behavior: Pay attention to changes in your child’s behavior such as being clingy, avoiding social situations, difficulty sleeping, or being irritable.
- Physical symptoms: Children may not be able to describe how they feel emotionally, but they may complain of physical symptoms such as stomachaches, headaches, or feeling sick.
- Worries and fears: Children with anxiety may have excessive worries or fears that are difficult to control or are out of proportion to the situation. For example, they may be afraid of going to school or being away from a parent.
- Tantrums – Not a run of the mill “I want this box of cookies” in the grocery store tantrum rather a tantrum that includes running away, fighting (physically), screaming, breaking things – and be brought on quickly and without warning.
- For kids using social media: Look at the type of content they are posting, liking, following, and hashtags they are using – look for anything overly negative.
About the Author
Amanda Bacon-Davis is an award-winning author, successful entrepreneur, and proud advocate for the mental health community. She has a beautiful daughter, Ella Rain, two amazing bonus kids (who are wonderful adults), a precious bonus grandbaby, and the most loving husband in the world. Amanda and her family live on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with their dog, Dog-Dog. This Thing Has A Name is her first children’s book.