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28 / Our Community
How do we recognise
children’s anxiety problems?
Suki Lung Wing-kei, a regis-
tered expressive arts therapist,
says that anxiety problem can
be divided into behavioral and
mental anxiety. On behavio-
ral anxiety, children will show
their nervousness when meeting
strangers, and they will be reluc-
tant to be separated from their
parents. As for the mental issue,
children may suffer from nausea,
headaches and stomach pain.
Lung also adds that it is easy for
parents to know whether their
children are suffering from anxi-
Chan adds, “they won’t have enough courage Dr. Phyllis ety or not as they are willing to
and won’t be adventurous enough to try new things. Chan Kwok- expose their inner emotions.
This is a sign of anxiety in children, and it sometimes ling “The mental health problem
grows to the point of evasion.” in one’s growth development
If children fail to accomplish certain tasks, their is very essential. If the anxiety
self-esteem will be undermined more severely. How- problem of children is serious,
ever, on the other extreme, children who expect it will affect their social interac-
more of themselves may also become perfectionists. tions like being afraid of speak-
ing to outsiders or becoming very
They won’t have enough passive in learning,” Lung adds.
Expressive arts therapy is an
courage and won’t be innovative and creative therapy treatment Baby gym facilities at The Little Gym of Hong Kong.
adventurous enough to try that helps children express their feelings
new things. This is a sign of through visual arts, music, drama, dancing
or creative writing. As the verbal expression
anxiety in children, and it of young kids is still weak , Lung uses non-
sometimes grows to the verbal therapy to help children with mental
problems.
point of evasion. Lung recalls a child from a single parent
family in her child development class. The
boy pulled at the door frame with his arms
To avoid exerting excessive stress on children, and legs to avoid walking into the room.
Chan thinks that parents’ attitude are essential. “He needed some time, so we slowly built
“When children suffer from anxiety problems, 70 up a relationship with him, and let him per-
to 80 per cent of their parents also suffer from anxi- ceive that the environment is safe. We also
ety problems too,” Chan says. Most therapies rely on gave him a certain extent of self-autonomy
the efforts of parents. They need to consider how to to do what he wanted in class,” she says. Af-
adjust their children’s schedule, and offer enough ter a period of settlement, the child ended up
space for children. making friends, participating more and even
She also suggests that parents should focus on telling his mother about what he did in class.
building emotional attachments with their chil-
dren and devote more time to play with them. For A way for children to relieve their
instance, activities such as story-telling, physical stress
activities or outdoor natural exploration should be Walter Assang, program director of The
indulged, rather than excessive enrollment in play- Little Gym of Hong Kong, says he established
groups and interest classes. the baby gym because he wants to introduce
