Recommendations for supporting children with anxiety

I’ve been receiving a lots of messages from teachers and parents who were looking for recommendations on how best to support children who are feeling anxious at this time. I asked for recommendations of resources and I’m going to share them below.

I think routine is really important for children – especially at this time! I also think it’s really important for children to be allowed to feel how they feel – sometimes that will be sad/upset/angry/frustrated and sometimes it’ll be happy and to allow and encourage children to acknowledge those feelings. I think it’s also really important for parents and guardians to share how they’re feeling. I think it would be fair to say that everyone has had mixed feelings throughout this time – sometimes feeling happy that the pace of life has slowed down a bit, frustrated that we can’t do the things we normally do or go to the places we like to go and sad/upset that we can’t see our friends and extended family members. Don’t be afraid to share those feelings with children – it normalises them.

I think exercise and going outside are so important. Thankfully, the weather has been really nice so a walk or time in the garden every day is a good idea.

Try to avoid the news or limit the news to once/twice a day as it can be very overwhelming to watch and see the number of deaths and cases on a daily basis.

Thank you to everyone who shared their recommendations – if you have any more to include please email niamh@irishprimaryteacher.ie