5 Ways Loving Parents Worsen Teen Anxiety

Your once-joyous child has developed into an anxious adolescent. It is hard to observe. Previously delightful activities are now ignored. The wonderful experience of going to school every day. You are heading to the doctor with unexplained stomach symptoms rather than to the shopping.

Teen anxiety affects the entire family and is not only terrible for your teen.

So how can you put a stop to this nightmare? How can parents support teens who are anxious?

You might begin with understanding what not to do, and then progress from there. Teen anxiety can appear quite similar across teens, but how parents react to teen anxiety can vary greatly based on the family’s method of parenting.

Here are five typical mistakes that decent parents make in therapy practice:

1. Allowing their teen’s anxiety some space. 

Parents are sorry. They don’t want their children to experience teenage anxiety. They want to put an end to everything. So they actually carry it out.

Their children are opposed to attending school. They change them over to online instruction.

Their kids don’t want to go to bed by themselves. They assign them a fixed location in their bed. 

Their children are afraid to try new things. They never challenge them beyond their ease level.

It takes skill to support children with teen anxiety. You don’t want to discourage your teenagers entirely, but you also don’t want to push them excessively either.

Support your kid in developing coping methods and then motivate them to fight back!

2. Forcing teenagers to confront their worries too soon.

The opposite of the preceding issue is parents overly concerned with managing teen anxiety. They dislike seeing their children suffer, so they push them to confront their concerns.

The goal is beneficial, but the execution is poor.

These parents have no concept of anxiety. They feel that by forcing their teenagers to confront their concerns, they would “get them over it.”

Sadly, teen anxiety doesn’t operate in this manner. Teens should not be forced to do activities they are not prepared for. Managing teen anxiety requires striking a balance.

It’s not a good idea to calm their anxieties, but pressing too hard can have a similar impact. They both have the power to put an end to any forward movement.

Give your teen coping skills before allowing them to handle minor difficulties. Small difficulties add up to outstanding accomplishments.

3. Putting too much importance on addressing anxiety.

Parents can experience anxiousness. They understand it so well that they are prepared to help their kids overcome teen anxiety. The books are being read by them. They are those who take part in therapy. They are the ones who are supporting their children while they fight teen anxiety.

It is annoying to observe your adolescent moving more slowly than you would want. It is difficult to comprehend the abilities they require but then observe them ignoring them.

Unfortunately, you can’t fight this battle on their behalf. You accomplish two things if you battle teen anxiety more forcefully than your teens. The reverse of what you intend to do is what happens when you make them conceal their concern. Furthermore, you create a sense of overwhelm in them. Many young people simply give up when this occurs.

Your teen is fighting this battle, not you. Be a helpful travel companion. Not you, the driver.

4. They believe their adolescent is manipulating them.

Many parents assume their teenagers use their anxiety as an explanation. “He’s simply uninterested and doesn’t want to go to school,” I’m told, and “She’s not afraid at night, she simply prefers resting with us.”

Most teenagers feel ashamed to suffer anxiety as adolescents and would do anything to avoid having it.

When you see your teen’s concern as manipulation, you will manage it with discipline and annoyance, which will only worsen the problem.4

5. Having anxiety misperceptions.

We heard parents mention things like, “I have no idea why she feels scared of that – nothing awful has ever occurred to her?” Parents scratch their heads, wondering, “Is he being bullied?” “Did she experience some trauma that we have no knowledge about?” Typically, the response is no.

Anxiety is strongly inherited and occurs in families. Children have a tendency to be anxious from birth. That does not imply they can’t learn coping strategies; it simply indicates you shouldn’t try to respond to the question “But why?” 

Teenage anxiety is frequently unreasonable and is frequently not found in real-life events.

What should you do now that you understand what not to do? Educate your teen with methods of coping. Bring them to a counselor who can work with them to develop these skills. Have them study a teen self-help book that will provide them with the necessary skills, or have them view a parenting tutorial video to learn how to teach the skills themselves. Support your teen in whatever you decide to do.

Assist your teenager with the following three steps:

1. Recognize anxiety patterns and causes.
2. Offer them coping methods for dealing with anxiety.
3. Create bite-sized tasks to assist them in overcoming their concerns.
4. Repetition