- October 4, 2022
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry
Anxiety in Children: 7 Signs Your Child Might Be Struggling With Anxiety
As a parent, you want to do the best you can for your child, whatever the circumstances. But if your child seems to be struggling with anxiety, then this can make it harder for you to do your job as a caretaker.
You will need to bring a renewed arsenal of tools and an immense amount of patience to the game then. We have created this guide on some common signs of anxiety in children. This way, you can know for certain that your child has some sort of anxiety disorder, and you can start working on treating them using medication or other appropriate treatments.
1. Trouble Adjusting to Changes in Their Routine
Whenever you are about to change the routine of an anxious child, you have to be quite careful and slow about it. You will notice if you have a child with anxiety that every time anything changes in their environment and particularly in their routine, it flares up temper tantrums, crying sessions, or just chaos in general.
They might even start shaking or sweating in situations that are unfamiliar and seem intimidating to them. If you move them to a new school, then it will take them much longer to adjust to the change, as they refuse to hang out with other students, staying alone in a corner as they assess the situation.
2. Social Anxiety
This is a big one for children with anxiety. There are lots of ways social anxiety can manifest itself in their life. Some particular ones are listed below:
- They are particularly shy of strangers and strange situations
- They avoid social situations with other children like birthday parties, etc
- Also, they avoid joining any class activities that involve socializing or being with other students
Any time you have a new social situation where you need to include your anxious child, you will have to introduce it to them slowly and with patience. Realize that it will take them a lot longer than other children to adjust to a new social group and become friends with them.
Berating them or forcing them to do it faster won’t help the situation but will just result in temper tantrums, crying sessions, or panic attacks.
3. Difficulty Eating or Going to the Bathroom in Public
This is another useful sign you can watch out for when trying to gauge if your child has anxiety. If they have any issues going to the toilet in public or eating in public, then they might have an anxiety disorder, ADHD, or both.
Children with anxiety will only be able to use the toilet at home, which means that they end up holding their pee or poop for too long and sometimes peeing in their pants as they go on long-distance trips where a familiar bathroom isn’t available.
Also, they will go for hours and skip several meals if they are in an unfamiliar home or situation because they only feel comfortable eating meals at home with their family.
4. Restless and Hyperactive
Even if your child doesn’t have ADHD, they might still display signs of restlessness, hyperactivity, and distractedness. They might be extra fidgety, with their legs or fingers shaking or moving all the time.
Also, they will have a hard time concentrating or focusing on one particular task or activity for too long. It’s important to allow them to move their bodies to release this restless energy, as sitting for too long can be akin to torture for them.
5. Mood Swings and Hypersensitivity
Your anxious child will tend to get grouchy or angry for no apparent reason. They will also cry a lot again for no apparent reason, although for them, it makes absolute sense why they are crying or angry, even if they can’t explain it to you.
Also, they are hypersensitive; that is, every little thing that might not bother others will make them upset or worried. They worry about the future quite a bit as well, thinking constantly about ‘what if’ scenarios and asking dozens of questions about it. For example, they might worry about joining middle school when they are only in 3rd grade.
Another situation that will bring nightmares and fears to them is the fear of the loss of a loved one, a parent, or a friend. These nightmares can cause them to sleep badly or have trouble falling asleep due to tense muscles.
6. Refuses to Go to School
If your child is constantly complaining about a stomachache, headache, or some other ailment, which would prevent them from going to school, then they might have anxiety or some related disorder.
They might throw temper tantrums or start crying uncontrollably when they are forced to go to school despite having these ‘symptoms’ of anxiety in children. Also, they will have severe separation anxiety when they are in an unfamiliar situation, and their caretakers leave them to go somewhere for a little while.
7. Seeking Approval and Perfectionistic Tendencies
An anxious child is extremely worried about losing the support and love of their caretakers and friends, much more so than other children. That’s why they will try their hardest to seek the approval of everyone around them, their caretakers, their teachers, friends, and everyone else.
Also, their perfectionistic nature will cause them to give up on tasks faster than other children saying, ‘I can’t do it’ when there’s really no reason for it. This could result in a meltdown or tantrum when you force them to do something they really don’t feel comfortable undertaking.
Anxiety in Children Has Clear Signs You Can Watch Out For
If you read the signs of anxiety above and could see your child clearly in 2 or more of them, then it might be time for you to visit an anxiety specialist doctor or doctor for anxiety. This way, you can get anxiety medication or
anxiety treatment and get your child the help they need.
Remember that there are many reasons for symptoms of anxiety in children, and it doesn’t have anything to do with your failure as a parent. It could be genetics or environmental. Set up an appointment with us today to see how we can help your anxious child live a much more optimal life through a children anxiety treatment.