What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety (What-to-Do Guides for Kids Series) Paperback – September 15, 2005

This book turned out to be fantastic! We have had the book since early 2016 and it is now October. It has given our daughter a sense of control over anxiety and worry. She now has coping mechanisms and her symptoms and acting out behaviors have all but completely disappeared. She doesn't have to constantly use the steps in the book anymore (that we know of ;), but when she starts to worry, she usually remembers to apply the steps herself, and on that very rare occasion that a worry spills out, we are quick to remind her to start applying her steps, which so far, has quickly resolved any issues. She especially loves applying Logic (which we found out from an adult in therapy that this is exactly how a therapist starts attacking worries, which makes sense since the author is a professional), the Worry Box, and drawing pictures. At 6 years old, she could technically read this book, but it is longer than most 6 yr olds would comfortably read themselves. The type is a bit larger than it would be for an average adult - maybe 12-14 pt type, which makes it easier for littles trying to read. At first, we read the book together (meaning she sat in my lap while I read) and she enjoyed the pictures and drawing. Once in a great while, she'll even grab the book off the shelf and find a section on her own to reread to herself. This has been a great resource for us as parents when we weren't sure how or where to start when our child's anxiety started becoming an issue we all needed to face. It was a perfect step for us before going to a professional and we feel this book helped us avoid that next step. It's great for parents too - we learned quite a bit ourselves and can't we all use a few more things to help take some stress out of our lives! ;) Highly recommend!

My son went through the exercises in this book with a therapist when he was nine years old, back in 2013. He still remembered several of the ideas from it. But his anxieties came back with a vengeance in early January of this year, so we picked up this book and What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming OCD (What-to-Do Guides for Kids) to go through them again. We started having daily Worry Time, worked on breathing techniques, and started identifying "trash" thoughts that could be discarded.It turned out that his anxieties were caused/exacerbated by an underlying medical condition, and he ended up spending 6 days in the hospital. The amazing thing was how brave he was during that time. He had all sorts of tests, shots, IVs, MRIs, and even surgery. Throughout the week, we'd still practice worry time, sort through the bad thoughts, conjure up our happiest memories, and do breathing and relaxation exercises. At one point, one of the nurses told him how brave he was. He said, "I don't feel brave. I'm such a fearful guy." But as they talked through how scared other kids can be (and how some of them might fight or scream or kick or cry) during the same situations, he said, "Maybe other kids aren't good at being afraid. I'm good at it now because I've had a lot of practice." I think that philosophy is exactly what this book is teaching -- how to manage and be brave despite the fears and worries that anyone might have.As you may have guessed from my constant use of the word "we," I've been doing a lot of the exercises, too. You can probably imagine what was happening in my brain when we were in the ER due to bad lab results, and were looking at a biopsy and surgery on my 12-year old. Instead of letting myself get overwhelmed, I just sorted through the trash thoughts (I swore at them in my head most of the time), gave myself a daily worry time, and practiced the calming techniques.I highly recommend this book for parents and kids suffering from intense anxiety and needing some practical steps to overcome it. The OCD one is also quite good for kids suffering from OCD, whether just the obsessive thoughts or the compulsions that come with them. Both books give you language to be able to talk to your kids about what they're going through and how to manage those thoughts.

The best thing this book conveys is hope! It frankly acknowledges the problem (which I think is terrific - a kid feels sick with worry and some validation of what they're going through seems important, rather than the ever-heard 'don't worry about it'), and presents - through a neat analogy that links tending to worries to tending to a plant - actual behavioral and thinking (cognitive behavior) techniques for addressing the problems. My daughter ate it up, and we're using the suggested tactics, so far with great enthusiasm.Some of the reviewers take exception to some of the specific language - that it's broad or paints all worriers (or their parents) with too broad a brush - but we think it's excellent for that reason. The language is inclusive, meant to capture and speak directly to all kids who worry too much. Your kid may not have this or that particular worry, but something in this book will speak directly to them. My daughter was captivated from the moment she opened it - I think she was glad to have someone other than a parent 'understand,' and the fact that it sets out steps to follow lets her envision 'being a girl who used to worry too much.' I wish I'd come across something like this as a kid, and I'm grateful to have found it for my daughter.It resonates as an authentic and useful set of techniques (I have zero background here, but it feels right). If this one set of techniques doesn't turn out to be enough, the fact that we've seen this book recommended by some of the professionals we're thinking of consulting (this is how we found it in the first place) suggests that these techniques will at least be complimentary to any further approaches we may take down the road.