It’s normal for most kids to start experiencing anxiety when they are preschool aged. For Aimery, his anxiety often comes out in being overwhelmed when he is over-stimulated, in crowds of people, or has been away from home for too long. Because he can’t fully express his anxiety, it can come out in a bunch of different ways - anger, crying, not eating, and biting his nails. I have really been working with him over the last month to understand when he is feeling anxious and give him healthy ways to calm his anxiety. Keep reading for the 3 ways I’ve been able to successfully help Aimery with his toddler anxiety!

BREATHING EXERCISES

The best thing I ever did was teach Aimery to do breathing exercises when he’s overwhelmed or angry. Whenever Aimery would start to get upset, I would tell him that he needs to take a deep breath before he gets what he wants. After a month or so of teaching Aimery to take deep breaths, he has started to do it on his own when he feels himself getting anxious. This has helped him with his anxiety and has also helped him learn how to process through his emotions instead of becoming angry.

USE YOUR WORDS

Another way I have taught Aimery to work through his anxiety is to use his words, or to verbalize how he is feeling. When he starts to get angry, instead of me asking why he’s upset, I ask him if he’s feeling anxious, angry, or sad. Not only has it allowed him to start understanding the emotions he is feeling in the moment, but more importantly, he is understanding the emotions of others and learning empathy.

NO BITE POLISH

I have noticed recently that Aimery will bite or pick at his nails when he is feeling anxious as a nervous habit. I tried using Magique No Bite on his nails to keep him from biting or sucking his fingers, and it has really worked for him! Magique No Bite is a clear, odorless nail polish that does not wash off. Once it dries, it has a bitter taste to help both children and adults stop the urge to bite their nails. Along with promoting nail growth, it also helps stops the spread of germs by keeping hands out of their mouth. I first applied the No Bite polish to my fingernails and then once Aimery was comfortable, I put it on his! It’s a lot easier to get your toddler to do things when they can help you do it first! You can purchase No Bite polish from Magique on Amazon, here.  The polish comes bitter already, which was effective for Aimery out of the box. But, the Magique package comes with an extra bitters bottle and a dropper, so you can tailor the polish perfectly for your needs, which makes for an almost failsafe deterrent and solution.