Many children struggle with separation anxiety when it comes to their parents. This is pretty normal for kids. There are things that parents can do to help their children feel more comfortable and less anxious when they have to be apart, whether that is at school, church, or daycare.
Check out these 4 ways that you can help your child with their separation anxiety–they could be the game-changer you have been looking for.
4 Ways To Help Your Child With Their Separation Anxiety
Talk To Your Child About Their Worries
It’s important to acknowledge and validate your child’s worries. There isn’t anything wrong or unusual with them–these feelings are totally normal. Talking through their feelings and fear, though, can actually give you an opportunity to help your child see that their anxieties aren’t as scary as they may seem.
Talking opens the door to helping your kids overcome their separation anxiety and gives you an opportunity to come up with a game plan of how to help them together. This helps them know that they aren’t alone in their fears and that you are there for them no matter what.
Don’t Enable
The last thing that you want to do is enable their separation anxiety. Don’t let your child stay home from daycare or school or stop you from leaving them home with a responsible caregiver when you need to.
Giving in to these worries constantly may seem like it’s taking care of them in the moment, but it’s actually just enabling them and not giving them the opportunity to grow through this stage of young childhood.
While separation anxiety in young kids is normal, it’s also normal for them to start to slowly grow out of it as well. Don’t take important part of their childhood development away from them by enabling them.
Have a Consistent Routine
Children thrive in structure–it’s actually a core need for them. The more predictable and regular your daily routine in your home is, the less anxious your child will feel.
An important part of this routine is the drop-off/pickup portion of your day. If you can get a good routine set leading up to drop-off that you stick to, that can help ease anxiety in little ones as well. They know what to predict, and when kids know they can count on the same things happening over and over again they feel much more calm.
Getting to keep something with them from home when they go to school or daycare can really help alleviate a child’s separation anxiety. This could be a special blanket or stuffed animal. It could be a special piece of jewelry or a picture of the two of you.
Having something sentimental that they can use when they start to miss you a lot can help them feel close to you even when you aren’t together.
Separation anxiety can be really tough on parents and kids alike, but there are some great ways to help your children know that they are safe and okay. What are some ways you help your children with anxiety?