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There is a rise in children and adolescents experiencing anxiety. Some causes of increased anxiety include pressure to succeed, pressure of high expectations, feeling that the world is a scary place, the overwhelming nature of social media, among other reasons. In sports, children and teenagers may experience sports performance anxiety: they are afraid of failing; they worry about letting their coaches, teammates, and parents down; and they are stressed about potential or actual mistakes they make.
According to psychologists Ronald M. Rapee, Ann Wignall, Susan H. Spence, Vanessa Cobham, and Heidi Lyneham, “[A]nxious children will usually avoid things they fear. Because of this avoidance, they never have an opportunity to find out that what they are scared of probably won’t happen and that they can cope if it does.”
Having children and teenagers involved in participation and performance gymnastics, such as recreational and team gymnastics, can teach them to face their anxieties and learn important strategies and skills to work through their anxiety. With the right coaches and gym environment, recreational and team gymnastics gives children and teenagers experience acknowledging their anxiety but not letting it overwhelm or dominate their lives.
For children and teenagers with anxiety, it is important to help them face their fears of failure, their worry about not doing well, and not wanting to let people down, so they learn the tools to cope in future situations.
For parents who are new to gymnastics or want to get their children or teenagers started with gymnastics, start with the beginning participation class at our gym!
Try This At Home:
Include regular low stakes failure activities–board games, baking a recipe, learning a new chore, etc.,–and then talk about what feelings the children or teenagers experienced when they struggled. Acknowledge their feelings of frustration but shift the conversation to talking about tools and strategies they can use to not get consumed by negative thoughts and feelings.
Have weekly family conversations where older siblings and parents talk about their failure experiences, what they learned about themselves from failing, and how they grew from the experience. Come up with strategies for facing fears of disappointing others, worrying, making mistakes, etc.
Normalize the growth mindset and failing forward mindset in the family: that making mistakes and failing is a normal part of the learning process and everyone does it.
Want to Learn More? Read This!
Reid Wilson and Lynn Lyons’s Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children
Ronald M. Rapee, Ann Wignall, Susan H. Spence, Vanessa Cobham, and Heidi Lyneham’s Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents
David Grand and Alan Goldberg’s This is Your Brain on Sports: Beating Blocks, Slumps and Performance Anxiety for Good!
Work Cited
Rapee, Ronald M., Ann Wignall, Susan H. Spence, Vanessa Cobham, and Heidi Lyneham. Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents. New Harbinger Publications, 2008.
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