my 6 years old daughter is afraid of everything

[farnoosh]

I have a 6 years old daughter. She is scared of everything like fires, storms, earthquake, death and recently she is scared of animal ans she just asks me questions of what if I die and what if giant snake comes and get me and etc. I don't know how to what to do and I need your help. We don't see any movie or even news infront of her because she scares of anything that  happend or might be happens.

[margypops]

She sounds as if she has heard a lot of talk about disasters and it has made her afraid, I would have said form TVaswell but if you dont put the TV on with her in the room it cant be that so listen to who she is speaking to ,possibly some talk aslo from other children at school. Ask her where she has heard these things , then dont make an issue of it as it only feeds into it, it could also be a way of her getting attention , make sure you focus on her positive side .

[jdtm]

Today researchers believe anxiety is a genetic trait, thus, children are born carrying this trait.  We noticed anxiety symptoms within one hour of our child's birth (she was very gassy, unable to sleep, fearful) but, at the time, we did not know what we were seeing.   Today, some researchers feel that 13% of all children suffer from anxiety - that does not mean all have severe anxiety or suffer from anxiety disorders, but this certainly is a very common mental health issue.

From your posting, I suspect your daughter suffers from GAD (Generalized Anxiety) and if you google the phrase "anxiety in children" or "childhood anxiety disorders" or "GAD in children" or similar words/phrases, you should be able to find information about this issue.  Then as the first poster suggested, it might be wise to discuss this problem with your family physician.  If he/she is unable to help you, you might wish to ask for a referral to a specialist with experience in anxiety disorders.  If anxiety is the issue, then your daughter will not outgrow it nor will it go away.  But, anxiety is highly treatable, especially with children.  Our child was diagnosed with severe social anxiety and depression at six years of age (and the child psychiatrist was upset we had not sought help sooner - frankly, we did not know what to do) so your child is not too young.  Today, she is doing very well, managing and coping with her fears and/or anxieties.  Hope this helps ...

[farnoosh]

It's been awhile but It gets worst since we had an earthquacke(we live in ca) 4 months ago. It wasn't a bad earthquake and I really tried to be calm infront of my kids and not to panic but she scared alot and everytime someone is talking about fire or storms or anything like that she can not get that thought out of her mind for few weeks and it's really scares me. I know grown up people have anxiety but I never thaought it could happens to a 6 years old kid.

[91004]

I have the same problem myself and tho I dont believe that everyone or every child that has minor issues like this has this but I have anxiety, I let my kids sleep with me because I am afraid someone will break in or there will be a fire and I wont get to them in time. Did something recently happen to her(I have always been afraid of thunderstorms and still am to this day.) Try taking her to the doctor and describing her symptoms they should be able to give more advise. How long has this been going on.