Growing up brave : expert strategies for helping your child overcome fear, stress, and anxiety / Donna B. Pincus.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]) and index.

Understanding Childhood Anxiety. The brave child: learning to cope with the range of human emotions ; What's normal, what's not: decoding childhood emotions, fears, and anxieties ; The attentive parent: how parent-child interaction styles affect anxiety -- Daily Routines That Ward Off Anxiety. Five-minutes-a-day time: a simple strategy to set the stage for brave behavior ; Managing bedtime: the benefits of a consistent sleep pattern. -- Strategies to Lessen Anxiety and Promote Bravery. The cycle of anxiety: a three-component model ; Examining anxious thoughts: one step in breaking the cycle ; Accepting physical feelings: learning about the body ; Changing avoidant behaviors: the power of parental reinforcement ; The bravery ladder: step by step to success ; Halfway to adulthood: combating the fears of adolescence. -- Special Considerations. Growing up brave through the years: finding professional help, using medications, maintaining progress.

When our children are born, we do everything we can to make sure they have love, food, clothing, and shelter. We read to them, play with them, and comfort them when they cry. But despite all this, one in five children today suffers from a diagnosed anxiety disorder, and countless others suffer from anxiety that interferes with critical social, academic, and physical development. The author, childhood anxiety expert, is here to help. In this book she helps parents identify and understand anxiety in their children, outlines effective and convenient parenting techniques for reducing anxiety, and shows parents how to promote bravery for long-term confidence. Perhaps your young child has trouble sleeping or separation anxiety, or your teen suffers from social anxiety or panic attacks, whatever the issue, this book can help. Using methods based on cognitive behavioral therapy, you will learn to identify your child's fear and anxiety on the spectrum from normal and predictable to what might be cause for concern, to promote a secure attachment with your child in only five minutes a day, tools to foster coping skills in the face of anxiety producing situations, strategies for reinforcing problem-solving behavior, adaptive parenting styles, and much more. The author includes stories from her practice of children, from preschoolers to teens, who have overcome their fear and anxiety through her step-by-step approach, as well as information on therapy and medication. Whether your child has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or simply needs help navigating this increasingly stressful world, this book provides a toolkit for instilling happiness and confidence for childhood and beyond.