Social Anxiety
As your child gets older, some children may start being more aware of what others think, this could be linked to what clothes to wear...
What is social anxiety? As your child gets older, some children may start being more aware of what others think, this could be linked to what clothes to wear, what they should say or do and this can lead to a child becoming anxious.
Some children feel so anxious about what they should and shouldn’t be doing and this can then lead to social anxiety disorder.
Children as young as 8 can start developing social anxiety, although at this age it can be hidden from parents and teachers as they may not want to talk about how they feel. Social anxiety vs shyness Social anxiety can often be mistaken for extreme shyness, but there are some differences.
If your child is shy, then they may feel nervous before speaking in front of a class, however with social anxiety it can result in them worrying about standing up in front of others for weeks or months beforehand. Your child may lose sleep due to worrying about the presentation and experience intense anxiety symptoms like shortness of breath, sweating, shaking or a racing heart.
These symptoms then only become worse as the situation progresses and they are unable to control these symptoms. Other examples of social anxiety could be your child loves a particular sport, but they don’t want to try out for the team as they are worried people will look at them and what they will think. Avoidance doesn’t work Unfortunately avoiding the situation that makes your child anxious doesn’t fix the anxiety.
It may offer an immediate relief, but the anxiety doesn’t just go away, it will just intensify the next time.
By your child avoiding the situation, it is telling their brain that it is something scary and they need to stay away at all costs. When they are next called upon to speak in front of their class let’s say, their anxiety will be more intense.
Get help It is important to speak to your child’s teacher if you notice any issues or your child speaks of their anxiety as together you can all come up with a plan on how to tackle the anxiety.
Often small steps help, so breaking up the anxiety into more manageable steps can really make a difference.
For example, speaking in front of a class, rather than doing it on their own, the teacher could ask everyone to stand up and speak, then once they begin to become comfortable with that, the teacher could ask a group to stand up and present. There is no set rule with how many steps to break down the anxiety and it can take time to achieve each step. Ideally the first step should be relatively easy to help build confidence and then once achieved, talk through how your child felt when they were doing it and after and see if it was as bad as they expected.
Talking about the situation is as important as the steps, as it helps validate that it was ok and then they can move on to the next step. If you don’t get much luck from your child’s teacher, then speak to the head teacher or whoever oversees wellness at their school and if you feel you need more help, then do go and see your child’s doctor. For more information on how you can help your child deal with anxiety then a book which is recommended by School Mental Health Services is; Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries by Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts.
Source: https://childmind.org/article/what-is-social-anxiety.
Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries by Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts
As your child gets older, some children may start being more aware of what others think, this could be linked to what clothes to wear...