Fall is a transition for everyone, adults and children alike. Those early morning alarms are already a struggle to get up and get everyone ready and out the door. Then you add in that for children it’s a new school year that comes with new teachers and new classmates. Even if your child is in the same school, so much is not the same from year to year. Anxiety can quickly begin to creep in and take over in the lives of everyone in a season of transition regardless of age.
In order to be able to assist our children with their growing anxiety, we must be aware of the tone we set in our own example of how we address anxiety. When we expect ourselves to be able to hold all things together on our own, we model that for our children. Without realizing it, we can actually be presenting a very different gospel message to our children than the Bible teaches and we ever intended to communicate.
So what do we do about it?
Here are a few thoughts of how to respond to those anxious moments in life to share with those sweet children the Lord has entrusted into our care. We also must apply these responses to our lives first and foremost.
1. Pray with your child. Philippians 4:4-9 shows us that through prayer our worry is replaced with peace that is only possible through surrendering ourselves to him. He is more than capable of covering our worries with his peace that surpasses understanding.
2. Read God’s Word with your child. We have been given a powerful weapon of truth in God’s Word as a gracious gift. Read Matthew 6:25-34 together. We can take comfort in the one who has complete control and holds our tomorrow in his hands.
3. Help your child to take care of his/her physical body. Psalm 127:2 is just as applicable to us today as it was to the Israelites in the time of the Old Testament. We often forget that our bodies were made to need rest and movement. Both help immensely with reducing anxiety.
4. Practice the ministry of presence in your child’s life. In Galatians 6:2 Paul very clearly shows that we are intended to be in community with one another, walking with one another through life, speaking life and truth to one another, and holding each other up just as Christ does for us. Be there with them in that moment of difficulty.
5. Reach out to a licensed Christian counselor if needed. Psalm 103 reminds us of God’s great compassion and how he is sufficient to provide all that we need. A Christian counselor will continually be rooted in the truth of God’s Word and point to that truth. Sometimes simply talking through the anxious thoughts all tangled up in our minds with someone who can help and walk with us through them based on what is true biblically can be a great gift.
I hope and pray you and your sweet child find each of these as helpful as my family has in our lives. Let me leave you with these final words from Jesus from John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
