Your Anxious Child

The girls first ski jump

This compelling video can teach us a lot about dealing with performance pressure.

Direct download: Episode_18-_The_Big_Ski_Jump.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

The importance of focusing on effort rather than performance is discussed.

Direct download: Episode_17-Effort_versus_Performance.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

The importance of establishing "islands of competence" is discussed. Anxiety can be very compelling, so it helpful to develop some alternatives that can really grab your child's interest

Direct download: Episode_16-Islands_of_Competence.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

A very simple technique for managing anxiety on the go that involves making a fist. One version of this technique appeared in Scardies Away by Stacy Fiorille and Barry McDonagh and another verison appeared in Beat Anxiety Now by Alistair Horscroft

Direct download: Episode_15-_Worry_Management_on_the_Go-A_Simple_Technique.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

A continue discussion of the freeze or immobility response using the example of a child who just will not get out of the car

Direct download: Episode_22-He_Wont_Get_Out_of_the_Car.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Techniques for helping your child get out an intense worry focus. 

Direct download: Episode_14-Getting_Out_of_Your_Head-Part_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Anxiety tends to create intense preoccupation and tunnel vision. In this podcast we will discuss how to help your child get out his head and focused away from his/her worries

Direct download: Episode_13-Get_Out_of_Your_Head-Part_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Direct download: Episode_12-Story_Telling_For_Anxious_Children.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Nighttime is a favorite time for worries to bother your child. In this podcast, I will talk about a strategy for helping contain worries. The worry motel

Direct download: Episode_11-The_Worry_Motel.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Direct download: Episode_10-What_does__just_anxious__mean_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Direct download: Episode_9-Ask_your_child_what_happened..mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Direct download: Episode_8-The_Bottomless_Pit_of_Reassurance.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Direct download: Episode_7-The_Two_Part_Sentenc.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Direct download: Episode_6-How_you_respond_to_your_child_is_big.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

In this episode I will talk about a common feature of anxiety. It is allergic to humor and wants everything to be taken seriously. Find out how what we can learn from Harry Potter in dealing with worry. 

Direct download: 5_Anxiety_is_allergic_to_humor_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT

Suggestions about how to help your child with nightmares

Direct download: Episode_13-What_to_do_about_nightmares.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

Although Halloween can be a lot of fun, for some children, the costumes can be unsettling. I will talk what this tell us about age differences in the experience of anxiety. 

Direct download: Podcast_4_Halloween.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

In this podcast, I will talk about how it is helpful to think of anxious thoughts as junk mail. We all get "Junk Mail", but those with a more anxious brain have more difficulty disregarding it. 

Direct download: Podcast_3_Junk_Mail.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:36pm EDT

This podcast is dedicated towards helping the busy parent who has an anxious child. Each episode is five minutes in length and focuses on one aspect of parenting an anxious child. Obviously, in five minutes I can't be comprehensive, but hopefully I can provide with some tips and pointers and get you started in the right direction. In the podcasts that follow I will be talking specific strategies you can use with your child. You will about the "Worry Motel" and "Two part sentences" and other techniques. I will also discuss specific conditions such as Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, Selective Mutism, and Aspergers and many other topics. And of course nighttime is a favorite time for anxiety to show up and so I will be talking about what you can with those fears.  

For those of you that have time to dig deeper into this topic here are my favorite books on the topics. I will explain in a future podcast what I like about each book.

Tamar Chanksy, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Powerful, Practical Solutions to Overcome Your Child's Fears, Worries and Phobias

Dawn Huebner What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety.

Lawrence J. Cohen The Opposite of Worry: The Playful Parenting Approach to Childhood Anxieties and Fears. 

Reid Wilson and Lynn Lyons Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children

Direct download: podcast_one_10_25_14.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:05pm EDT

In this episode I will talk about how using humor can be helpful in turning the tables on anxiety

Direct download: give_worry_a_name_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:42pm EDT

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