iTWire - Australian study: Fearful kids may be anxious adults

Australian study: Fearful kids may be anxious adults

by William Atkins
Wednesday, 06 August 2008
Page 2 of 2 Campbell states, "Anxiety is a terrible thing to suffer through life, and impedes what a person can do, so the earlier we can identify anxiety in kids and teach them to cope, the better." The QUT article states, “For parents who think their children might have a problem with excessive anxiety, Dr Campbell said gradual and consistent desensitisation was the best way to help them overcome fears.” Dr. Campbell specifically mentions, “Giving children coping strategies to deal with their fear of things like ghost trains and scary rides, and helping them overcome that is important. For example, parents could sit with their child on an ordinary train first, then sit with them somewhere dark, then perhaps have games where people jump out and say boo - gradual ways to decrease fear." She concludes, "The problem now is a lot of parents can tend to wrap their children in cotton wool, because parents can be quite scared of the world as well, and that can rub off on children. It is important that kids are not taught to see the world as an overwhelmingly scary place." Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags Children Psychology Research Science William Atkins Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now << First page < 1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

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