With a possible war approaching in Iraq, plus the recent heightened terror alert, children and youth have plenty of legitimate reasons to be anxious. Youth who already have anxiety problems, are more likely to have difficulty coping with new anxiety-provoking events than youth who did not have pre-existing concerns. Anxiety tends to breed anxiety in some children. Here are some creative ways to help quell the nerves of your more anxious youngsters so they may focus more on benefitting from the service your site is offering them.

CALM OR CLAMMY

Young children may have difficulty using verbiage to express, vent or even acknowledge internal chaos. If a child lacks the words to manage or comprehend anxiety, that's a sure way to exacerbate the problem. Give children the vocabulary they need to cope with anxiety. So, for some young children, the word "anxiety" may be a mouthful. Instead, consider substituting the word "clammy," and use a live clam, or the idea of clammy palms as the images to convey the meaning of the term. Use the term "calm" as a way to refer to the opposite of anxiety, the goal a child might wish to strive for.

The terms "clammy" and "calm" can be also be used with older youngsters too, and will be especially valuable with extremely anxious youth. The funny word "clammy" may not be as anxiety-producing as the word "anxiety" can be.

TOMMY CALMLY & TAMMY CLAMMY

All the child knows is that his tummy is queasy, her palms are sweaty, or he has shaky hands. As an adult, you immediately recognize those symptoms as classic signs of anxiety. Plus, as an adult, you know what to do to quell those symptoms a bit. Children often don't recognize the signs of anxiety, and they often don't know what to do about it.

Teach children the signs of anxiety and calm, and how to manage anxiety. Introduce Tommy Calmly and Tammy Clammy, who are two characters who can convey the signs of both calmness and anxiety. Have your youngsters create pictures of Tommy and Tammy, with Tommy Calmly showing what calm looks like, and Tammy Clammy conveying what anxiety look likes. Have your students brainstorm ways for Tammy Clammy to be less anxious too. The silly names for the two characters are useful in helping quell nerves; humor is almost always a terrific antidote for anxiety.

DON'T GO CRACKERS OVER NERVE-WRACKERS

Funny words and phrases are really worth using with highly anxious children and youth, thus the silly phrase above. Ask students to identify their personal "nerve-wrackers," and elicit answers like starting the school year, taking important tests and listening to adults fight. The more a child knows what triggers their anxiety, the more likely that they can ultimately control it.

ATTACK THE NERVE-WRACKERS

Discuss ways to manage those nerve-wrackers that the students listed per the intervention directly above. Anxiety-producing events often generate less anxiety when the youngster has been helped to become a "veteran" at managing those concerns. It is very hard to sustain anxiety over repeated discussions, role-plays, practice sessions, and so on. Mere exposure can help diminish the intensity of the problematic reaction.

BE A MELLOW FELLOW

Here's a very unusual, but effective way to help students ease extreme anxiety. This intervention is best done with your entire group at once. Seek a private space to work with a single student as the intervention can look a bit strange to passersby. Ask the anxious student to stretch out one arm as far as they can, and to tense that arm as hard as they can, for as long as they can sustain it. It is exhausting to maintain that position for more than a very brief moment, and the child will be forced to relax their arm, and to some degree, relax a bit overall. This intervention is also a powerful way to assist children to understand how taxing it is to be very anxious a lot of the time.

NEED MORE INFORMATION on Anxiety-Reducing Interventions? The interventions in this issue are typical of those found in our books except the lessons in our books often include cartoons and other handouts. To get free sample materials and more information, visit the link below.