AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety

Raising a child with anxiety or OCD should come with a warning label, “Warning: May be hazardous to your health.” Being a rock to a child that is often flailing in the sea of chaos, can be draining to even the best of us. It can wear you down, destroy your sleep and impact your mood stability. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are ways that we can maintain our health and mental stability,...

Parents often grapple with what may have caused their child to become so deathly afraid of throwing up. They come up with theories. Maybe it was the time she saw her cousin throw up? Or maybe it was the time she got sick in the car? Or maybe it was the time she got food poisoning? But in reality, the fear of throwing up (also known as Emetophobia) just happens. Kids who are genetically prone to an...

It is hard to watch our anxious kids suffer. It is hard to stomach their pain. It is very tempting to swoop in and protect them. To soften their fall. To protect them from feeling discomfort. But that is robbing them of the opportunity to build their skills. I find that the best way to help anxious kids is to teach them how to help themselves. But easy to say, right? But how does one do that? In t...

Autism can be a confusing disorder because it often comes with so many other comorbid conditions. Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can show signs of anxiety, OCD and ADHD. Initially it can be hard for parents and even professionals to get an accurate diagnosis. In this month’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast segment Member Spotlight, I talk to Lynn about her struggles trying to understand he...

Most kids with OCD go into adulthood without a diagnosis. This means years of feeling different. Years of feeling ashamed. And years of little to no support. If parents and therapists can learn how to spot OCD symptoms in teens, we could help them save years of unnecessary pain and suffering. OCD requires a very specific therapeutic approach called Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). If a teen’s O...

OCD can wreak havoc in any family. But one sub-type of OCD that can be particularly painful is emotional contamination OCD. Emotional contamination issues can hurt family relationships and confuse parents. Sadly most people, even mental health professionals, understand very little about how OCD can manifest. OCD isn’t just about germs and constant cleaning. OCD has many themes and sub-types. It is...

We all do things for our kids. But there comes a time when we do too much. We inadvertently send a message that they are not capable of doing things for themselves. Ironically this directly impacts their ability to independently fight their anxiety or OCD.In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about how to move our kids from dependency to resiliency one small step at a time.**...

If your child is anxious, they are more likely to be a picky eater as well. This makes sense if you reallythink about it. Anxiety loves to scare our kids. It’s too dark. It’s too dangerous. Anxiety likes to whisperthings about food too. It’s too chewy. It’s too smelly. What if’s like to have their turn too. What if Ichoke? What if it tastes really bad? In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival...

Clinical Separation Anxiety isn’t a toddler problem. In fact, symptoms often start to show up when kids are in elementary or middle school. Separation Anxiety Disorder isn’t about having a toddler follow you around. It is about having a child who experiences sheer panic when they are not by your side. It is about having a child who needs to know your whereabouts every second of every day. In this...

OCD loves to hide. It loves to go undetected. We often think that compulsions are obvious behaviors, like over washing or over straightening. Things that we can see. Things we can measure. But compulsions are often so much more complicated than that. They can be subtle. They can hide in plain sight. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I reveal the three most commonly missed compulsions i...

As a parent to children with anxiety or OCD, our “normal” wasn’t that “normal” anyway. But now this new normal is taking us to new heights of abnormal. In this week’s podcast episode, I tackle the most common struggles parents are having as they continue to raise kids with anxiety and OCD during this pandemic. I tackle questions like:How am I supposed to get my child to do their work? How can I he...

Raising a child during a pandemic is a BIG challenge. But when you add anxiety and OCD to the mix, it can be a tall order to handle. Every month I have a segment on the AT Parenting Survival Podcast called Member Spotlight. This is where I get to spotlight an AT Parenting Community member’s journey through raising a child with anxiety or OCD.This month I talked to Gina. Gina talks about her ongoin...

To join us in the AT Parenting Community go to www. ATparentingCommunity.com***This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. Visit my website at www. ATparentingSurvival.comYoutube Channel: www. Youtube.com/c/anxioustoddlersSign up for my weekly email newsletter:https://pages.convertkit.com/740ba8cd83/92109b7172Take one...

When you are a parent raising kids with anxiety or OCD you can encounter some awkward situations. Like what do you do when a close friend says ignorant things about your child’s anxiety or OCD. Or how do you handle sleepovers when you know your child might not make it through the night? These are just a few of the many questions we dive into on the latest episode of The AT Parenting Survival Podca...

We are living in an ever-changing world. Our kids are living in an ever-changing world. This might be a scary notion to many, especially considering what is going on in our world right now. But what if we had the capability of improving our child’s resilience? What if we could teach our kids to systematically move towards their fears instead of away from them. What if we could teach our kids how t...

Our kids are home indefinitely. Classes are cancelled. Parties, sporting events and extracurriculars - all gone for now. Many of our pantries look like we are waiting for a hurricane to hit. So how are we supposed to help our kids not panic? How are we supposed to help our kids develop a new routine and not go stir crazy? How are we supposed to keep our anxiety in check so it doesn’t rub off on ou...

Our kids worry about death. They worry about disease. They worry about germs. And even if they don’t worry about those things now, who’s to say they won’t start? So how are we supposed to explain the Coronavirus to kids with anxiety or OCD?That can be tricky. But if your child is school-aged and doesn’t live in a bubble, they’re going to hear lots of talk about it. In fact, it seems like that is t...

In this monthly series on the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I interview parents from the AT Parenting Community as part of our member spotlight. In this month’s episode, I talk to Tiffany as she shares with us her trials and tribulations of raising a child with OCD. She discusses how she learned her son’s tics were really OCD compulsions and the struggle she had finding a professional skilled in...

Many of us fantasized what parenthood would look like way before we had children. Our ideas of parenthood might have been solidified in early childhood, as we tucked our baby doll into her toy crib. Or it may have been dreamt about the moment we knew we were about to become a parent. But for some of us, the dream and reality didn’t match. Our children had issues. Our children had fears. Our childr...

You make the appointments. You drive your child each week. You hand over your credit card. But how do you really know if your child’s therapy is working. What should you look for? What are some red flags? Therapy can be time consuming and expensive, so it is important you know you are on the right track sooner rather than later! In this AT Parenting Survival Podcast episode, I share my insight as...

When I began my journey parenting kids with anxiety or OCD, it was a lonely experience – and I am an anxiety and OCD child therapist! I felt my judgement was questioned. I felt the diagnoses were questioned. I felt like my parenting was questioned. I can only imagine how others without my expertise might feel. I knew enough to trust my gut. I knew enough to stand up and defend my children’s diagno...

Parenting a child with OCD can be overwhelming and lonely. The first Tuesday of every month, I am highlighting a member of the AT Parenting Community. We can learn from the real stories of others living a life, similar to ours. In these stories we can see our own. In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I talk to Molly, a mother of a tween who has had OCD for several years. Molly sha...

Most of us want kind kids. Who doesn’t? But there is an art to fostering and raising truly authentically kind people. It is now more important than ever to raise kind kids. Kids who won’t be afraid to stand up for what is right. Kids who are empathetic and respectful to those around them. I invited Nicole Black, the creator of the site Coffee and Carpool, to share with us the common pitfalls many...

Often one of the initial struggles parents face when their child has been diagnosed with anxiety or OCD is what to tell their child. Do they even tell them at all? If they do, is it going to help or hurt the situation? I do have some strong opinions about this topic. I go into what I think and why I view it this way in my latest episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast. If you are on the fence...

Health and anxiety have an intimate relationship. They love to hang out together. They love to work together. Anxiety can make you feel sick. Sickness can make you feel anxious. It can be a vicious duo that can wreak havoc in your child’s life. So how are you supposed to help kids who worry about their heath or whose anxiety makes them constantly feel slick? I brought Dr. Josh Spitalnick from Anxi...