Supporting Families with Anxious Behaviour

Anxiety is something that we all experience, to a greater or lesser extent, throughout our lives, and children are no exception. Whether it’s nervousness about an upcoming test, worries about social situations, or unease about changes at home, it’s normal for children to feel anxious from time to time.

However, when a child experiences severe and frequent anxiety, it can detrimentally affect their mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. This can have significant repercussions for the whole family: parents and carers can struggle to know how best to support their child and may begin to feel anxious themselves.

As practitioners in education, health, and social care, we can play an important role in supporting families to help their child cope with anxious feelings. By working together, we can explore some of the causes and symptoms of anxiety and share strategies that families can use to support both their child and themselves.

Reasons for anxiety in children

Children and young people can feel anxious due to a combination of social, emotional, and environmental factors:

1: Developmental changes

As children grow, they go through many changes, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Even at a young age, children can experience anxiety, which may show up as excessive worrying, clinginess, irritability, or physical symptoms like stomach aches. It’s important to recognise these signs early, as untreated anxiety can impact a child’s development and daily functioning.

The transition from childhood to adolescence can be especially challenging, as they start to gain more independence, and experience frequent fluctuations in hormones. During this period, they can become more distant from their parents or carers, making it difficult for the adults around them to know how to offer support.

2: Social pressures

Peer relationships can be a source of anxiety, especially as children approach adolescence. Trying to fit in, experiencing bullying, or maintaining friendships can all create stress. Social media can amplify these pressures, exposing young people to increased levels of comparison, judgement, and unrealistic expectations.

Some teenagers can become disconnected from their parents and carers during adolescence and may not share everything with them. With so much of teenagers’ lives spent online and on their mobile phones, the adults who care for them may not always know exactly what is going on.