Parents, teachers, any important adult in the life of a child, has the full capacity to impact the life of the child and how safe they feel in the world

It’s the existence of anxiety that makes something brave, anxiety and courage exist together. Anxiety is a normal human response designed to warn us of danger, whenever there is a need for brave behaviour, there will always be anxiety.

Anxiety keeps us safe when things are scary-dangerous, but what about when things are scary-safe? The brain often can’t tell the difference. Anxiety is a brain that has registered a threat or doesn’t feel safe. It can happen with things that feel dangerous but are in fact rather safe (new, hard, etc.), if there is a potential threat of humiliation, failure, rejection, exclusion, missing out, being interrupted, etc.

It helps to ensure kids understand what anxiety is. You don’t have to fix kids anxiety, it means they are coming up against their edges. If you steer kids away from anxiety, you steer them away from courage.

Ensure your child can feel you in their world, if they’re feeling anxious, if you can share a similar experience you had when you were a child offer that. When they are calm, you can ask the child if this is scary-safe (treasure) or scary-dangerous (dragon) situation? Is this a time for you to be safe or is it a time for you to get the job done?

Lots of tiny opportunities over time to face events with courage, in the face of anxiety, fosters resilience

Strong steady breathing (with a sigh) is the best way to calm the amygdala, the body, and lessen the physiological effects of anxiety. Teach kids the science.