Imagine not having the resources you need to protect yourself and your family. You would feel completely helpless. It's a terrible feeling.
This is exactly what many children feel when faced with scary or stressful situations. Adults have the experience and capability to deal with challenges. But kids don't feel the same power over these situations, leaving them helpless and scared.
For this reason, it's important to change your habits that cause anxiety in your children's lives. Here are nine things that can scare your children and keep them up at night:
1. Keeping secrets
You probably withhold information from your kids to protect them. However, this "protection" may have an opposite effect. If you are keeping secrets from your kids, they may believe it has something to do with them. Believing something is their fault but not having the knowledge to solve the problem can cause your children to worry. Instead, find an age-appropriate way to communicate the issue to your child.
2. Criticizing your spouse
Saying negative things about your spouse can disrupt your child's relationship with your spouse and hinder your child's future romantic relationships. Futhermore, talking badly about your spouse can give your child anxiety about the health of your marriage.
Today, divorce is prominent, and kids are aware of the changes and consequences it can cause. kids are concerned about divorce and the changes it will cause in their lives. Criticizing your spouse will cause your child to question the vitality of your marriage and the effects of divorce.
3. Breaking promises
We have all seen movies about parents learning to value their families through the crisis of broken promises - a dad missing his son's baseball game, or a mom forgetting to celebrate her daughter's birthday. It might be cliche, but the broken promise trope is powerful because your word is vital to your kids.
Children trust their parents, and if trust is broken, it can be life-shattering. If children can't rely on their parents, they deal with devastating consequences such as questioning their self-worth and fear of abandonment.
4. Watching shows that are inappropriate
Many people recall seeing a movie that caused them to lay sleepless for months from terror and anxiety. Why would you want your kids to experience the same pain? Movies and television shows that are crude, violent, sexually explicit or scary can scar kids of any age. Because your kids have limited knowledge about things like sex and murder, it can be challenging for them to resolve these issues.
Your kids rely on you to shield them from these issues until they are old enough to be introduced to them in safe and appropriate ways. Help them review the content of shows they want to watch using specialized rating systems and by subscribing to streaming services like Dove Channel that only publish wholesome and uplifting content you don't have to worry about your kids watching.
Get your free one month trial to Dove Channel here!
