A few years ago, I was at a friend’s house hanging out for a much-needed girl’s night (ahhhh…remember those carefree, pre-COVID days). One of the women there started talking about her son’s test anxiety at school. Her son would panic during tests and could not complete the work. When the mother had a meeting with the school to discuss her son’s test anxiety, she was met with an unexpected response.

One of the school staff stated that children don’t have anxiety!

Wow, I felt for this mom. She had painfully endured hearing her son complain of tummy aches at school, freezing and not being able to write during tests, and trying to hide tears running down his cheeks, so his friends couldn’t see. And now, it was affecting his grades because he was not able to show his knowledge. When she finally met with the team, she was met with misinformation and resistance.

To set the record straight, children DO experience anxiety (and every other emotion that we adults feel!). In fact, the CDC es...

At the beginning of the school year, my 5-year-old daughter seemed to have an endless amount of worries every night before bed. She had just started kindergarten, and it was her 3^rd new school over the past couple of years. Every new situation that came up during the week, she expressed concerns. Separation from me all day was a concern. Uncertainty in general was a concern. After a period of a few months, the worries eased, the separation anxiety lessened, and nighttime fears seemed to go away.

Then, over the holidays, we had a solid few weeks of almost constant worries about 1^st grade. What would it be like? Would she know anyone? Who would her teacher be? What would the work be like? The list seemed to go on and on. And then, after we arrived home from traveling and caught up on some rest, the worries slowly disappeared.

In the midst of all of my daughter’s anxiety though, I felt a burden. Naturally, I began to worry about my daughter’s worry! If any of you parents out there have ...