Worrying & Anxiety

As I shared last week, I am very familiar with struggles to combat anxiety and t's sometimes hard to help kids with issues that we also face. I've always had a good grasp on helping kids who have rational and irrational anxieties. By asking students to differentiate between rational and irrational worries, they get practice their critical thinking skills about worrying. I have seen some great "aha" moments during this discussion. 

But what about rational worries? This one has always been harder for me. When a student tells me that they are worried that their parents are going to get divorced and I know that is a real possibility- I feel stuck. That's why I love the book Wilma Jean: The Worry Machine by Julia Cook.

In this book, Wilma talks to her teacher about her worries and her teacher helps her to divide her worries between worries that she can control and worries she can't control. Here's where it goes to the next level - she adds a category of "Worries I Can Control With Help." So, yeah, that students parents might get divorced, but by helping her identify her support network, you can help her manage that worry.  If the student is not going there, they can place their worries in the worry hat and the hat will keep the worry until they want it back. How great is that? Someone once told me they had spent a fortune on therapy and all they needed to do was read the children's books in my office! 

I have created printables for this activity that you can use along with the book. You can check that out over in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Even if you don't have the book, you can use the activities as a stand alone. If you decide to purchase the book, you won't regret it!