Monday, June 15, 2009

Anxious

Gabby has anxiety.

Last year she was worried about going to school (in Utah) and would cry almost nightly. Now she's worried about police, jail, and clouds. Why clouds? Well, apparently even a looming cirrus means a tornado is approaching in her mind's eye.

Noah and I try calming her by telling her stories of peril. For example, in Utah a whole mountain side fell on a small village--that's not going to happen in Indiana. We've also told her about earthquakes--at least with tornadoes there's just a little path of destruction, when you're in an earthquake the whole town can be decimated. We later found out that we live on one of the biggest fault lines in the U.S. Shhh, don't tell Gabby. All this just to get her mind off tornadoes. Surprisingly she's still anxious.

We should have just taken her to Disney World, nothing bad happens there.

8 comments:

  1. maybe an inflatable jumping house will take her mind off, or maybe not.

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  2. I hope you guys aren't planning on moving back to Utah, or somewhere she knows that earthquakes for sure happen. :) Otherwise, thos feeligs of hers might go through the roof! I can't blame her, I am not sure how calm I would be with a siren screeching about an approaching tornado. Poor girl!

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  3. Smart...scare her into not thinking about scary things. I went through a period of anxiety over things like that when I was in the 5th and 6th grade. Learning more about the power of personal prayer really helped me through it.

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  4. We've talked a lot about prayer and I made her memorize John 14:27 ("Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid"). That's helped a lot, but she's still has a hard time relaxing at night.

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  5. Finn had a bad fear of bugs and Anna's daughter had a fear of dogs that were both beyond normal! Anna took Lucy to a psychiatrist and he explaind that it is not something kids can not be rational about, in their minds what is scaring them really will/can happen. He told us to fight "magic" with "magic" Lucy got a magic neckless and Finn a magic watch (Lucy also wrote out all her fears and put them in a worry box so that it could worry for her). It totally worked for both kids. Finn still did not like bugs and Lucy did not like dogs, but, at least they would go outside and eventually got over it.

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  6. I'm going to try that Maren, thanks for the tip!

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  7. This is just part of self-identity. I am a person. People can have terrible things happen. There are authority figures who have authority even over my parents (like police officers). Gabby is growing up. I had a terrible fear of death when I was Gabby's age and would go into a panic if my parents didn't arrive home from a date when I expected them. I would imagine all sorts of terrible things which must've befallen them. Not only is this a normal phase, it shows Gabby's imagination. She won't stop fearing things, but she'll manage her fears. All is well.

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  8. Oh boy things to look forward to...Let me know what helps.
    Poor Gabby. I like the prayer idea. You guys are so great to help her memorize that scripture.

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