Books for Parents:
- Our top recommendation – Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD by Eli R. Lebowitz
- Freeing Your Child from Anxiety by Tamar Chansky
- Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents by Ronald Rapee, Ann Wignall, et al.
Books for Children:
- Anxiety – What to Do When You Worry Too Much by Dawn Huebner
- Anxiety in small children (ages 3-5 years) – My Monster and Me by Nadiya Hussain
- OCD – What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck by Dawn Huebner
- Perfectionism – What to Do When Mistakes Make You Quake by Claire Freeland and Jacqueline Toner
Anxiety can impact sleep. Here are our tips for better sleep:
- Bedtime should be the same time each night, even on the weekends!
- No napping during the day.
- Nothing stimulating 1 hour prior to bedtime, like homework, screen time, etc.
- If your child is having trouble sleeping, try reading a book with a reading light (rather than overhead lights) for 20 minutes, then try to go to sleep.
- If nothing is working, try changing position, like switching where your head and feet are in bed.
Relaxation/Breathing Techniques:
- Try this relaxation script provided
- 4-7-8 breathing
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
- Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.
- Hold your breath for a count of 7.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8. This is one breath.
- Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.
