Anxiety And Thumb Sucking: What Is My Child Stressed About?

thumb sucking remedies

Children experience stress just like adults do, but they may express their feelings of stress and anxiety in different ways. That’s because emotions can feel particularly intense when you’re little, and kids lack the life experience and coping mechanisms of adults. Thumb sucking is one of the most common ways younger children relieve stress namely because the physical sensation provides them comfort.

However, it’s best to discourage your child from thumb sucking by the age of four to reduce the risk of dental and health issues. To help your child stop thumb sucking, it may be in your best interest to identify your child’s potential stressors.

Here are a few of the most common stressors among younger children and how you can reduce their anxiety without thumb and finger sucking.

  1. Schoolwork
     Today’s children have as much as 25 minutes of homework by kindergarten. Children between first and third grade are also saddled with schoolwork that’s three times as much the recommended amount by the National Education Association. When paired with activities such as dance class or soccer, your child may feel overwhelmed or tired.
  2. Lack of a healthy outlet
    Fewer schools are providing children with physical education classes and recess. When paired with hours of television watching or Internet consumption, your child may feel stressed because they don’t have a healthy outlet to get rid of the energy they have.
  3. Media consumption
    Your child is able to pick up on more messages from the media than you may believe. News and television shows that display scary images or stories may make your child anxious about the world around them. Plus, children may also pick up on the subtle ways these programs cause stress in the adults around them.

How Can I Reduce My Child’s Anxiety?
Don’t try to reassure your child the way you would a peer or friend. When you tell your child not to worry, it won’t keep them from worrying. Instead, empathize with your child and help them become a detective with their feelings.

One of the best ways to do this is by using the three Cs: catch, collect, and challenge. Teach your child how to identify their anxious thoughts and help them determine whether there’s enough evidence for them to worry about a given situation. Finally, teach your child to debate with themselves by challenging their anxiety.

In the meantime, thumb sucking remedies such as the T Guard finger guard can help your child break the habit of sucking their thumb. To learn more about thumb sucking remedies and thumb sucking guards, contact T Guard today for more information.