Miriam Lassoes the Worry Whirlwind

Childhood Anxiety

How can you respect your child’s feelings while helping them overcome anxiety? Try these ten tips for helping manage emotions without enabling greater fears.
https://childmind.org/article/what-to-do-and-not-do-when-children-are-anxious/

Sometimes it’s difficult to have a ready answer for your child’s worries. As parents and teachers, we don’t hold the answers to relieving our children’s fears, but we can help lead them into coping skills. Try these 49 phrases and activities to engage with your child about worry.
https://www.gozen.com/49-phrases-to-calm-an-anxious-child/

Anxiety disorders are the most commonly diagnosed mental health concern in the United States. How do you know when your child’s worries are a natural part of development and when become something to cause concern? Worry Wise Kids offers help in understanding typical childhood development and red flags regarding anxiety. Browse the entire site for help in understanding types of anxiety, managing anxiety with siblings and more topics related to childhood anxiety and OCD.
http://www.worrywisekids.org/node/70

From deep breathing printables to instructions for creating a calming jar, this site offers multi-sensory options to help a child become mindful of emotions and develop coping skills.
https://copingskillsforkids.com/calming-anxiety/


Parental Anxiety

Worried parents tend to have worried kids. Although there may also be some genetic factors, creating a relaxing home environment can greatly reduce both your own anxiety and your child’s worries.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/parents-how-to-cope-with-your-anxiety-and-have-a-relaxed_us_580e2efee4b099c4343199b6

Model explaining your feelings to your children so that they can see you working through your own worries. This and other great tips for anxious parents are explained at https://childmind.org/article/how-to-avoid-passing-anxiety-on-to-your-kids/


Camels

Camels are fascinating. Read about camels and discuss how their adaptations help them survive in severe desert climates.
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/adaptations/camels.htm


Sand Storms

Looking for a fun way to role play overcoming a Worry Whirlwind? Use these resources to investigage sandstorms, then pretend you’re in one! What would you do? How would you protect yourself? How might a dust storm be similar to a whirlwind of worries?
https://scoutingmagazine.org/2014/04/stay-safe-unexpected-dust-storm/
https://www.wadirumnomads.com/7-questions-about-sandstorms-answered/