My 7-year-old seems stressed all the time. What can I do to help her?
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
It’s normal for your child to feel a wide range of emotions such as fear, anger, and worry. But when these emotions begin to affect your child’s behavior and daily habits, there might be more significant problems.
Stress is different from anxiety, and anxiety is different from stress. In general, anxiety is characterized by persistent worries that don’t ever seem to go away. On the other hand, stress is your child’s natural and common response to a variety of situations. These situations might include key life changes, things they see as threats, new fears, or even changes in friendships.
Consider these three steps to help your stressed child.
Acknowledging your child’s feelings and emotions is critical to helping your child feel like they’re listened to and seen. Provide your child with reassurance of how much you value and love them.
In moments when your child shares his or her feelings of stress or worry, recognize that you have an opportunity to balance your instruction and teaching with listening and support. Try to create paths to releasing stress that involve your child’s favorite activities like exercise or creative arts.
Providing support to your child can take many different forms. And this is where you get to pair your creativity with how your child best receives love and affection. Sometimes physical touch shows support better than words. Other times, your child might simply need you to listen and sit with them as they share their feelings.
Remember that you know your child the best. If you think your child needs more help coping with increased stress, call our counseling line at 1-800-A-FAMILY. And to learn more about creating a mentally healthy home for your family, check out more resources.
Dr. Daniel Huerta is Vice President of Parenting and Youth for Focus on the Family, overseeing the ministry’s initiatives that equip moms and dads with biblical principles and counsel for raising healthy, resilient children rooted in a thriving faith.
He is a psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, and the author of 7 Traits of Effective Parenting. For many years, he has provided families with practical, biblically-based and research-based parenting advice on topics including media discernment, discipline, communication, mental health issues, conflict resolution, and healthy sexuality in the home. He is passionate about coming alongside parents as they raise contributors, instead of consumers, in a culture desperately in need of God’s kingdom.
Dr. Huerta has been interviewed by various media outlets including Fox News, Fatherly, Christianity Today, WORLD Magazine, and CBN, and he is a frequent guest on Christian radio stations across the nation. He’s also written for publications, including The Washington Post, on various topics related to marriage and parenting. He participated in the development of Focus on the Family’s Launch Into the Teen Years, a resource to help parents prepare their kids for adolescence, and he speaks regularly at retreats, conventions, and online events.
Dr. Huerta has maintained a private practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado since 2003 and has served families through Focus on the Family since 2004. He and his wife, Heather, have been married since 1997 and love being parents to their three teen children, Alex, Lexi, and Maci.
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