Having a child who suffers with anxiety has meant that I have done a lot of research into what causes it and I have also spoken to a lot of professionals who have told me what causes it, now obviously it depends on how old your child is, but the most common thing that came up as a cause of anxiety was technology. I certainly found that the short term solution of giving my child something to distract them from being scared and anxious became the very thing that they were scared and anxious about when I tried to take it away. It’s not just Facebook, instagram and snapchat etc that can give our children insecurities and anxieties, it’s the fact that there is something inherently addictive about technology that when taken away causes outbursts of epic proportions; so I am aware that this piece might seem ridiculous – give your child a piece of technology to help even though the technology itself is a contributing factor! However there are some truly fabulous apps out there to help children who suffer with anxiety and whilst I have not tried all of the below (we have our favourites that we kind of stick to) it would be wrong not to tell you that they are there and that for us they really worked, the even more joyous thing is that most of them are free!!
What’s Up:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jacksontempra.apps.whatsup&hl=en
It says 4+ however I think this is perhaps for older children as it is more advanced and talks a lot about thinking patterns etc, as a parent I found this one useful just to understand and be able to offer useful advice. It is not the easiest app to navigate, but spend some time having a look as it has really great stuff on it, including games to help if your child is anxious right now and needs help immediately
It mainly uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance Commitment Therapy methods.
SAM:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/self-help-for-anxiety-management/id666767947?mt=8
This says that it is for 12+ and I can see why – it is much more about self help, so you can add information yourself. It does have some handy tips for helping your child right now. However not so great for kids is that it has a social cloud which perhaps younger children shouldn’t have access to. I do like the self help section which gives plenty of info about anxiety.
Smiling Mind:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/smiling-mind/id560442518?mt=8
It says age 4+ however non of the mediations start before ages 7-9 so not sure about that. This is a mediation app and website from Australia. There are loads of mediations for each section on the App. There are classroom mediations which are really popular in Australia but yet to catch on here sadly.
They are working in conjuction with Virgin mobile doing a Daily Commute and Digital Detox so that people start to use their phones for something different in the morning!
Positive Penguins:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/positive-penguins/id570371342?mt=8
It costs 49p. It is for much younger kids than the previous ones. It has a game, some examples of why you might feel various emotions, it has a guided meditation and an introduction to different emotions, although I am not quite sure how I feel about the boy and girl penguin options and the clothes that you dress them in – however if my child was anxious and this helped then I probably wouldn’t care at all.
Insight Timer:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotlightsix.zentimerlite2&hl=en_GB
This is a meditation app that is fantastic. It doesn’t have any games or anything like that it is pure meditations. There is however a huge selection of meditations for kids and teens and they have so many different areas that they deal with: Self confidence, sleep, dealing with change, help with tests, I could go on and on. I think that this is a ‘preventative’ app more than a ‘help right now’ app. My kids (and I) listen to one every night to help aid sleep. To get to the kids mediations (well more visualisations) click on the headphones icon at the bottom of the ‘home’ page, then click on guided mediations and then you will see the ‘kids and teens’ section. Needless to say it is a little complicated to navigate, purely because there are so many!!
If you search on google there are plenty of places that it will direct you to, however these are a great place to start with the bonus of all being free……
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