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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Is It Anxiety If......
Unregistered 12:06 PM 03-12-2020
I have talked about this 4 1/2 yo DCG before, but something this week has made me question if all the crying she does is because of anxiety or if she does it as a way of seeking attention.
Mom told me quite some time ago that DCG has severe anxiety. (A doctor has never diagnosed her, mom just said she knows that she does because of all the research she does online....)
First, for quite some time, the DCG has come in every morning crying, continuing to cry through meals and refuse to eat. She will randomly cry during our learning time, free play, when things don't go her way etc. When I ask her why she is crying she either shuts down or shrugs her shoulders and continues. She has really amped up the crying in the last month, crying off and on throughout the day.
The last three days, she has come in happy and talkative, not crying at all throughout the day. She has not had a day here of not crying at all for several months, so this has been quite a dramatic change. At drop off today, mom said to her "now remember our deal?" When I heard her say that, it made me wonder if they are telling her she will get some sort of reward if she does not cry here for the rest of week. She had an extremely tough Monday, but has been completely fine the rest of this week.
Because I don't know that much about anxiety, I am wondering if it is something that can be managed using a reward system? Do children who have anxiety have the ability control their anxiety if they know they will be rewarded?
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Ariana 03:54 PM 03-12-2020
When we took my anxious child to get a CT scan and then a subsequent surgery there was NOTHING I could say or do to make her cooperate with any of it. When we go to birthday parties there is nothing I can say or do to make my kid suddenly let go of my hand and run into the party on her own, it takes a while and usually the party is nearly over before she warms up. When she is anxious she is anxious.

That has been my experience with an anxious child and I was similar as a kid as well.
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Tags:4 year old, anxiety disorder
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