How To Help Children And Youth Whose Parents Worry About Them

Habitual; Ongoing

There is healthy parental concern and then there is the ongoing habit of worrying. Habitual parental worry diminishes a child or youth’s self-confidence and self-esteem. Worrying parents expect difficulty for the child or youth or expect that the child or youth will not be able to handle whatever challenges arise. Children & youth are very sensitive to parental emotions and attitudes. Parental worry teaches children & youth not to trust themselves and to expect difficulty. All this often can make success difficult in later life. Parental worry teaches children & youth to have fear and anxiety and to believe that getting help is very difficult. Parental worries may be due to and complicated by a combination of: parents having had little real help themselves as children & youths; having had many frightening experiences as children, youth and adults; having not experienced hope and success. Such parents often don’t know how to support their children or youth effectively because they were not successfully parented themselves. Having a lack of support and guidance in being a parent can cause misunderstandings and can create anxiety, fear and worry. Parental exposure to stresses, addictions, financial challenges, exhaustion, nutritional imbalances and environmental pollutants may also be a factor. The effects of parental worry upon children & youth can be complicated by a combination of: parental, child or youth medical or mental illness; learning and developmental delays; physical and/or emotional discomfort from unhealed accidents, traumas and abuses of all kinds; exposure to environmental pollutants.