Anxious 8YO DD

[WillPenn]

DD1 is quite anxious - goes in phases. She is currently waking up in the night scared about all sorts of things - that robbers will come in the house and hurt her, that DH, myself and grandparents will die in the night. We are trying to tackle the phase with rationalizing/explanation, reassurance, and also offering her some relaxation techniques (counting, thinking through lovely days out we've had, rehearsing some of the explanations we've given her).

I think she will move out of it eventually, but does anyone have a similar child and can offer what helped them get through it? Thanks.

[tmae]

I was that child!

My mum used to do "worry corner" with me every night before bed, it consisted of me talking about everything that was on my mind and it seemed to help mdse sleep.

There are some great breathing techniques, maybe have a look at CBT for anxiety, there should be some stuff out there directed towards children.

[tmae]

mdse = me

I don't know what happened there!

[WillPenn]

Thanks tmae! I like the idea of the worry corner. We fortunately found my DD's activity book for children who worry today and hope that will help her too. I think that has some CBT techniques in it. She slept ok last night without waking up and worrying, so hopefully she's coming out of it....

[tmae]

That's good, the best thing for anxiety is knowing the tools to notice the early signs and having methods of getting on top of it before it becomes overwhelming and CBT is a good way to do that so that sounds really handy.

I'm glad she had a good night!