Tips To Help Your Child With Separation Anxiety
Whenyou leave a young child it is perfectly normal for them to feel anxious andseparation anxiety is actually a normal part of development. If you understandhow to deal with separation anxiety, it should become easier and disappear, asyour child gets older.
SeparationAnxiety Explained
Clinginess,tantrums and crying are all normal in early childhood. Separation anxiety canbegin before a child turns one and may last or reappear until the age of four.As we have said above, it’s normal for your child to feel anxious when you leavethem, but there are things that you can do to help your child. In some cases,separation anxiety doesn’t fade and if it persists, it maybe a bigger issueknown as separation anxiety disorder.
EasingSeparation Anxiety
Thereare steps that you can follow to help to make separation anxiety easier.
Practiceseparating
Atfirst, you need to leave your child with a caregiver for a short period oftime. Once your child has become used to this, you can leave them for a longerperiod of time.
Sayinggoodbye
Youneed to develop a speedy goodbye ritual, for example, a goodbye kiss or aspecial goodbye signal (such as a wave or a high five). It is important to bequick and not drag this out.
Beclear with your child
Tellyour child that you are leaving them, but you will return. Once you have donethis, leave swiftly and don’t turn saying goodbye into a big issue.
Don’tmake promises that you cannot keep
Inorder for your child to become used to being separated from you, it’s importantthat you are return on time, as promised.
Don’tgive in
Inorder for child to be able to move forward from separation anxiety, you need toreassure them that they will be okay when you leave. Don’t give in to them andbe consistent with your approach.
Afterabsence from school
Ifyour child has been absent from school, you need to get them settle back intoschool as soon as possible. If this means they only go to school for a shorterperiod than normal then it’s worth doing this, as children learn how to copewith separation through experience.
Rewards
Ifyour child has been doing really well in coping with their separation anxiety,then as with anything else, praise and reward them.
LookAt Your Own Stress
Ifyou are feeling stressed or anxious, your children are more likely to sufferfrom separation anxiety. For this reason it’s important to make sure that youare calm, stress free and not anxious.
Exercise: reduce stress andfeelings of anxiety by doing regular exercise.
Discuss your feelings: talking about how youfeel can be very useful, even if there’s not much it will do to change how youfeel.
A Balanced diet: in order to cope withstress, your need to be eating the right foods. Eat lots of fresh fruit,vegetables and healthy fats and avoid sugary snacks and junk food.
Sleep: if you’re not gettingenough sleep, your stress levels will increase. Stress can cause you to feel foggy and prevent you from thinking clearly.Good sleep affects our mood and our quality of life.
ProfessionalHelp
Ifyour child’s separation anxiety seems more severe, then as we mentionedpreviously, they may have separation anxiety disorder. The kinds of symptomsthat they may display in this case are:
Tantrumsor clinginess, which are not age-appropriate.
Alwayscomplaining of physical sickness
Extremefear of leaving the house
Withdrawalfrom peers, family or friends.
If your child persistently displays these symptoms, it may be worth seeking professional help.
