7 year old boy separation anxiety

[Joeytwinks]

Hi, I am mum to a 7 year old boy. Over the last month he has developed severe separation anxiety out of the blue. He is convinced something is going to happen to me or his dad, and worries we will leave him somewhere or forget to pick him up? Anyone else been through this, any suggestions?

Things like that are rarely totally “out of the blue”. He could have seen something on tv or overheard a conversation that has triggered this. I would say your best chance of dealing with it would be to try and pinpoint the cause so you can try and reassure him. My (older) DD still has extreme anxiety about something happening to myself or her dad but I know that stems from my very sudden cancer diagnosis.

Age 7 is the prime age /developmental stage for realising bad things happen, including starting to understand crime and death.

Be patient and read how to support worries in this age group.

I wouldn't poke too hard for underlying causes unless it doesn't improve with kindness and appropriate reassurance.

It's awful, I have a 7 year old boy with anxiety and it's difficult to manage. This book helped us immensely and is really easy to use, it really made a difference to how we approach it 💐

Hi JHITRM77

Thank you for you advice. I am actually reading this exact book and it is definitely very helpful. We have made some really good progress over the last 2 weeks, think I need to remember it will be a marathon not a sprint. Do you mind asking what your son's anxieties are about? Are they settling?