Tips for Parents with Anxious Children
October 20, 2022
Anxiety can be experienced at any age, as we cannot ignore our fears, stress and insecurities. You can deal with it a lot easier as an adult, but young children usually do not know what is happening to them and how to calm down.
As a parent, you might not realize how many fears and stressful situations your child has. In 2020, children from 3 to 17 years old have reported that they've experienced anxiety or depression.
Note: All toys mentioned in the article are for age 8+, younger Fun In Motion Toys lovers should be supervised by an adult.
Do children experience anxiety?
You might be familiar with physical symptoms such as an intense heart beat, shaking hands, increased blood pressure. For us, it's an easy thing to spot, maybe a bit hard to deal, but we still know what the experience is that's happening in our bodies. For children, however, everything is opposite. These kinds of symptoms can be difficult not only to communicate, but to understand as well. Here, we adults have to be the first ones who know the potential causes of it:
- Fear. A really common anxiety reason among children. Maybe they are afraid of doctors or spiders?
- Loneliness. This can cause a lot of stress, especially when they are left alone for too long.
- First time stress. First day at school or being in a crowded place.
If you often notice signs of anxiety among your children, we recommend talking to a professional. We have some tips and tricks on how to calm them down, but they cannot be used as a daily practice for more serious situations.
You might know from a personal experience, that words "calm down", or "don't worry" will not really help in this situation. Remember - anxiety cannot be magically cured, it can only be managed.
That's why we want to show you how Fun In Motion Toys products can help manage it and be the thing that helps decrease the daily stress and fears.
1. Keep their mind busy
When our heart beat is raised, we lose focus and start to overthink the reasons for it. Rarely, we start to look for distractions to calm to calm it down, and that's exactly the key to doing so - managing your brain to concentrate on other things to help forget the intense feelings. You can help children the same way. Most of the toys that can help with anxiety are fidget toys. Guess what? Fun In Motion Toys have a few amazing ones in their roster!
Our products have different types of fidgets - ones who are a bit harder to get the hang of at first, and those that are easy to use from the first touch.
So, how can they keep a child’s mind busy in a stressful situation?
- They will distract them and make them concentrate towards solving the problem in front of them, instead of focusing on what is happening around them. This can be a great way to calm their nerves and relieve tension.
- They trigger creativity. Colorful shapes that change with every twist and turn can be a great mood booster and stress reliever.
The best toys to keep your child's mind busy:
Note: All toys mentioned in the article are for age 8+, younger Fun In Motion Toys lovers should be supervised by an adult.
"After 250 hours of research and testing, including interviewing five baby wearing experts and walking over 100 miles in 15 wraps, slings, and meh dais, we think that the Gemlak Baby Carriers is the best"
Deborah Grayson PhD, LMHC
"After 250 hours of research and testing, including interviewing five baby wearing experts and walking over 100 miles in 15 wraps, slings, and meh dais, we think that the Gemlak Baby Carriers is the best"
Deborah Grayson PhD, LMHC
2. Show that you understand them
As you might already know, dealing with stressful situations can be hard even for us adults. When it comes to kids and their communication about fears and feelings, we often tend to stress even more because we don't know what to do to make them feel better.
Let's conquer this problem and make the Fun In Motion Toys a solution for the whole family. This a way in which you can show your kids that you understand their struggle. Believe us, our toys, such as Shashibo, can be an interesting challenge to conquer even for adults.
How can you use them with the whole family?
- Different challenges: solve the Shashibo back to a cube, discover new shapes, build the most interesting structure and vote on who's is best. There are unlimited possibilities when it comes to this fidget toy.
If you like challenges, you can also try our new Shashibo Battle Shapes game, created for puzzle game lovers.
Note: All toys mentioned in the article are for age 8+, younger Fun In Motion Toys lovers should be supervised by an adult.
"Shashibo is the most fun toy I have ever played with. It makes you think , satisfies your can’t sit still , have to do something with my hands check them out over 16 different cubes and 70 different combos plus you can add them together. I got one for everyone in my family for Christmas."
Janet Hodgson
"Shashibo is the most fun toy I have ever played with. It makes you think, satisfies your can’t sit still, have to do something with my hands check them out over 16 different cubes and 70 different combos plus you can add them together. I got one for everyone in my family for Christmas."
Janet Hodgson
3. Try all sorts of different activities
Fidget toys might not always be the activity you and your children enjoy. As we mentioned, it can be too difficult at first, or you might just want to try out something new after tons of gifted fidget spinners. We've got your back here too!
Here's what new activities you can try with your children:
- Juggling. Yes! There never seems to be enough time to learn this incredible skill. But better later than never! We have two options to choose from: Wes Peden Glow.0 Juggling Balls and Spinballs Glow.0 ! Both toys are beginner friendly, with tutorials on how to learn this skill included with the toys. You just need to give it a shot and try!
- Mozi. It's like a slinky for your arm. It spins continuously and effortlessly as it moves up and down – from one arm to another, or as you pass it to a friend. It can be an easy new activity to try out with your kids. No effort needed, just put in on your arm and enjoy the spinning!
Note: All toys mentioned in the article are for age 8+, younger Fun In Motion Toys lovers should be supervised by an adult.
"Besides being one of the most beautiful objects, it's such a pleasure manipulating it and finding ever more shapes and panel combos. Both my children and I are on the autism spectrum and this Fun in Motion toy is invaluable. Thank you!."
Karen Washick
"Besides being one of the most beautiful objects, it's such a pleasure manipulating it and finding ever more shapes and panel combos. Both my children and I are on the autism spectrum and this Fun in Motion toy is invaluable. Thank you!."
Karen Washick
The most important thing to understand is that anxiety can be a challenge for everyone - both adults and children. Our mission here - help them feel as good as possible, especially when this feeling can be hard to understand and explain for them.
Fidget toys that keep their mind busy can be a great solution. New activities such as juggling are a great way to get in the zone and overcome the stressful situations. And the best thing is, you can do it with the whole family! Not only is it a fun and productive way to spend your free time, but also a way to connect with the most important people around you.
Reminder: if you often notice signs of anxiety among your children, we recommend talking to a professional. We have some tips and tricks on how to calm them down, but they cannot be used as a daily practice for more serious situations.