Are you feeling helpless when it comes to a child that you love who is struggling with anxiety? Would you feel a sense of relief if a good friend with experience handed you an arsenal of tips, tools, and thoughtful gifts for kids with anxiety and depression that would actually help them? Help is on the way!
One of the most challenging things as a parent I have had to contend with is the thought that I cannot pass my happiness nor my joy and feeling of well-being on to my children.
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When I came to terms that I had a child with anxiety, I wanted more than anything to wrap my arms around her and transpose my calm and confidence onto her.
Alas, that is not how life works. We each have to travel our life journeys for ourselves.
Still, as a mother, it’s our job to do all we can to provide comfort and a safe place for our children to land.
When you have a child with anxiety, they may need special tools to help them be safe and calm when their thoughts start spiraling out of control.
Here are 9 tools that kids with anxiety say help them to calm down and feel secure. These also help for Sensory Seeking kids as well. They make great treats and gifts for any time of the year.
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1. Therapy Dough, Slime, Putty
Pinch Me Therapy Dough is a great smelling, tactile pleasing, non-slimy, sandlike therapy dough. Literally just grab a pinch to knead, roll, and work through the hands.
This is a great way to keep hands busy. My daughter keeps her Pinch Me dough at school and has permission from her teachers to reach for it when she needs to de-stress or even to think clearer.
2. SUPER SOFT Textured Stuffed Animal
The ultimate textured, soft stuffed animal is the Jellycat by far!
The stuffed animals from Jellycat are so soft and amazing. They feel wonderful. They are slightly textured. One that is particularly fun to stroke is Odell the Octopus.
He is great because his tentacles are textured, so they are pleasing to the touch, but also, when you stretch them out, they curl back very satisfactorily.
Also, his head is big enough to fit in the nook of your child’s arms for satisfying snuggling at bedtime.
Even as an adult, Odell is my personal favorite of all of my daughter’s stuffed animals. He is so satisfying to the touch.
3. Aromatherapy Lotions & Oils & Pillow Sprays
Bath and Body Works is one option. There are many, many choices out there.
For an aromatherapy pillow spray, you cannot go wrong with the Bath and Body Works Pillow Spray. We have found good results with the Sleep, Stress, and Focus Pillow Sprays.
Another idea is a scented pillow or a pouch filled with dried lavender, which can also help induce peaceful sleep.
4. Room Color Changing LED Lights
My daughter swears by the cool, calming, effect induced by a LED Color Changing Strip lighting. A simple way to induce the chill setting on a stressful day.
Have you ever experienced falling sound asleep in a room with a fan, or to ocean waves, or the crackling of a fire?
Sound machines can help bring that experience back.
Marpac has a fan like sound which works so well with babies, toddlers, kids and adults to drown outside noise in the household and prevent startling wakes.
My son has used this since day 1 and sleeps through the night and for 2-3 hour naps thanks to this puppy! This is great for teens and adults too.
My teenagers like the optional other sounds on this machine too. Oceans, fires, crickets, fans, rain and more. It is non-looping which was really important to them and helps them both sleep like babies again!!! Run don’t walk to get your teen with anxiety one of these helpful tools!
6. Sensory Stress Balls
Sensory Squishy Stress balls can give your child a way to squeeze out the anger and anxiety without hurting herself or others. Strangely satisfying.
7. A plastic shoe box filled with uncooked rice or dried orzo pasta to run their hands through.
This is a simple and very inexpensive way to help your child reduce stress on their own when they are really feeling it.
Your toddler will love putting her hands in this rice too. Great for the sensory-seeking kids.
8. Weighted blankets
Weighted blankets can help children who are having a hard time relaxing the body enough to sleep. They literally ground the body so that it can relax and feel secure. Play around with this concept, and find one you can return/exchange if necessary.
Too heavy and your child may feel constricted, too light and they may feel unsatisfied. Just right will depend on your kiddo. So experiment.
My child is not a fan of the weighted blanket, but my other kids pile on blankets one over the other. Weighted blankets to the rescue.
9. The ULTIMATE GIFT for Kids with Anxiety: a pet to care for.
But having a dog has been absolutely helpful and calming for my child when she is having an anxiety attack or feeling sad and or worse angry and depressed.
Our dog can sense the energy shift in her and transforms himself from playful puppy to therapy dog mode.
He’s not trained that way, and I don’t know what it is, but it’s miraculous to watch. And I am grateful for him and the many times he alone has been able to take her off the emotional cliff she was peering over.
This goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, a dog is a huge responsibility. Especially a puppy. So it’s not a responsibility to take lightly. You have to think very seriously about something like the adoption of a dog.
You want one that will match your family’s temperament and lifestyle and be adaptable. If you have a child with anxiety, you already have your hands full.
You don’t want a type of dog that will not fit into your lifestyle or be too high maintenance. I hope that helps.
That said, we have Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and they are so easy going and flexible that they are a perfect fit for what we have going on in our home.
They roll with the chaos to be non-needy and chill, and they like to have fun when we are up for it too. To me, they are the perfect dogs for our family.
Chandra is the chocolate-chip loving mother of 2 teenage girls who started over again with a baby boy in her 40’s! She is the author of The Mom’s Playbook to Conquering Softball Season. She gives other moms the tools they need to prepare their daughters for real life. Her content is centered on helping girls grow up to be well-rounded, equipped, expressive, confident, intelligent, capable, kind and independent.
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