3 Tips for worry prone parents – Don’t let anxiety suck the joy out of your parenting

Have you ever felt like the moment you had a child, you turned into that parent you swore you would never be? Suddenly you’re worried about absolutely everything. Whether your child is sleeping through the night, how they’re doing at school, what they’re doing online, if they’re eating enough vegetables. You name it, you’ve probably worried about it!

It seems that no matter what age your children are, there is always a new source of stress. Bullying, grades, self-esteem issues, boyfriends, girlfriends, college applications, and the list goes on and on. Each of these circumstances can leave you feeling anxious or stressed about your kids.

It’s completely natural to feel anxious about being a good parent, but don’t let it prevent you from enjoying the amazing connection you have to your kids. We want you to enjoy parenthood, which is why we’re giving you 3 game changing parenting tips to help you de-stress and have fun.

1. Learn the Difference Between Healthy and Unhealthy Fears

As parent’s, it’s normal to worry about your children. But don’t let parenting anxiety take the joy out of raising them.

Is there a difference between good fears and bad ones? Absolutely!

Healthy fears are good for you and for your children. These fears often trigger your personal intuition that says something about a certain situation is off. For example, allowing your teenager to be driven around by a new friend who you have never met before is a healthy fear. You do not know this friend nor are you comfortable with their driving skills.

Unhealthy fears are unreasonable. Thinking that your child is going to be kidnapped if you let them walk to the corner store or that they will fail out of school because they had a couple of low grades that year are unreasonable in nature.

One of the biggest parenting tips for reducing anxiety is to learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy parental fears. A simple way to do this is to make a pro/con list.

In the pro column, write up all the ways that your overprotective or anxious nature may be helping your child. Pros may include keeping them safe, feeling a personal sense of security, and teaching them about potential dangers in the world.

Cons might include such things as needlessly scaring your children, looking at life in a negative way, or sheltering your children in a way that might make them naive or socially awkward.

After writing out the pros and cons, you will probably see that the negatives outweigh the positive. This will help you make the decision to channel your fears in a healthier way.

2. Be Proactive

Instead of constantly worrying about the “what ifs” in life, our parenting tips are to learn the risks and educate yourself. For example, how many children actually go missing out of the blue? Studies report that out of the 203,000 children kidnapped each year, just 115 are victims of traditional “stranger-danger” kidnapping.

While this is still a reason to be cautious with your children and the company they keep, it is hardly a reason to lose sleep or become a helicopter parent.

One of the best parenting tips you can follow is to eliminate dangers that are stressing you out. For example, if your child has new friends that you feel wary about, invite them over for a movie or game night and get to know one another better.

If you have a swimming pool or trampoline, make sure that you have taken care of all the risk factors involved that may make you anxious. Get a pool or trampoline fence with a lock and set strict rules about when your child is allowed to use them.

Monitoring internet use is another one of our great parenting tips. By checking history, friending your children on social media, and installing certain add-ons (such as anti-porn blockers), parents can have peace of mind about their children surfing the Internet safely.

Putting their computer in a common room in the house is another great way to ensure they are staying out of trouble. Just be sure to use age-appropriate measures when monitoring your children, as it would not be appropriate to invade the privacy of older children.

3. Keep the Lines of Communication Open

One of the biggest parenting tips for banishing worry from your life is to create healthy lines of communication with your children. Teach your children about potential dangers. Don’t scare them, but keep them informed about stranger danger, internet safety, inappropriate sexual behavior, and physical safety when playing.

It’s also important to maintain a dialogue. When you engage your child in conversation, you begin to build a trusting friendship with them. By being non-judgmental when the come to you with problems, you open the doors for them to feel comfortable coming to you with issues in the future.

Practice being mindful and meditating. Instead of worrying yourself sick about what your child is up to and whether they are alright, do something proactive about your worries.

One way you can take control of your fears is by taking deliberate, slow breaths. Yoga can also be extremely beneficial for your mental health. Meditative yoga has been proven to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It also promotes brain health.

How you treat, view, and talk about others has a direct impact on your child. Studies show that parent outlook affects children’s behavior. So if you have a positive attitude about life, your child will too.

There are some great parenting tips out there to help you to get more enjoyment out of raising your children. Learn to accept that you cannot control everything, build trust in your children and open the lines of communication. Not only will this remove the stress from your life, but it will improve your relationship with your kids.