How to Parent Your Anxious Toddler

by Natasha Daniels

Everything you need to know about how to parent an anxious toddler and provide them with the life skills and coping mechanisms to help them thrive as they develop. Bath time, bedtime, mealtime and playtime are all covered in detailed chapters which explain common misunderstandings. Specific fears, phobias and separation anxiety are also addressed.

Why does your toddler get upset when his or her routine is disrupted? Why do they follow you from room to room and refuse to play on their own? Why are daily routines such as mealtimes, bath time, and bed time such a struggle?

This accessible guide demystifies the difficult behaviors of anxious toddlers, offering tried-and-tested practical solutions to common parenting dilemmas. Each chapter begins with a real life example, clearly illustrating the behavior from the parent's and the toddler's perspective. Once the toddler's anxious behavior has been demystified and explained, new and effective parenting approaches are introduced to help parents tackle everyday difficulties and build up their child's resilience, independence, and coping mechanisms. Common difficulties with bath time, toileting, sleep, eating, transitions, social anxiety, separation anxiety, and sensory issues are solved, along with specific fears and phobias, and more extreme behaviors such as skin picking and hair pulling.

A must-read for all parents of anxious toddlers, as well as for the professionals involved in supporting them.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2015

About the author

Natasha Daniels has been an anxiety & OCD therapist for over two decades. She has become the go-to global expert for parents raising kids with anxiety and OCD. She combines both her clinical expertise with her lived experience of raising her own three kids with anxiety and OCD.

She is the creator of the popular website AT Parenting Survival, As well as the host to the top rated show AT Parenting Survival Podcast and the Youtube channel, Anxiety & OCD Support. She also gives in-depth support to thousands of parents raising kids with anxiety or OCD in her online membership AT Parenting Community.

Natasha is also the author of Anxiety Sucks! A Teen Survival Guide , How to Parent Your Anxious Toddler, Social Skills Activities for Kids and It’s Brave to Be Kind.

After the sudden loss of her husband, she also wrote, the Grief Rock. A children’s book that explains the bumpy road of navigating grief.

Reviews

[Kate Ngow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this because we most definitely have an anxious toddler and it’s a fine line of “is this a phase” and “this might be part of his life.” I thought I could only add some tools to my belt and downloaded this to do just that. I want to say that initially I wanted to four star this because I have worked with infants and toddlers for 12 years now and thought there is nothing EARTH shattering as far as info… and then I reflected on that and I thought if I knew nothing about anxiety in toddlers and kids? This would be a revolutionary tool for me. She gives amazing advice and breaks down scenarios so well for everyone to understand from both the parent AND the childs perspective. I rounded this to five because there were some things she said that were new for me (the one that comes to mind is saying “while” you fall asleep not “until” you fall asleep) and I was able to utilize in my day to day and I think they really helped me with my son. Great book if you may be dealing with anxiety for your child OR have anxiety yourself and are navigating parenthood.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was amazed with and appreciative of the breadth and depth found within the pages of Natasha Daniels' book, How to Parent Your Anxious Toddler. Natasha notes that "Common toddler struggles are amplified for the anxious toddler." Toddlerhood, "development between the ages of one and three" is Natasha's primary focus. In addition to the targeted group of parents with anxious toddlers; I firmly believe this book can offer ideas, support, and guidance to anyone parenting a toddler.

The organization of the book's twelve chapters makes it easy to find and reference pertinent content. Chapters provide situational narratives from both the parent(s) and child, exposing potentially conflicting viewpoints, and helping to clarify the reason(s) for the toddler's behavior. Parents can then explore approaches to improving the toddler's coping and adaptive skills.

I enjoyed reading about the "robotic parenting" style presented in this book. It refers to the parent imparting unemotional responses to their stressed child, so the child can process information without being overwhelmed.

This 224 page book has far too many helpful tidbits of information for me to even begin to share them all. So, I recommend obtaining a copy of this book for yourself and growing your own skills, as well as learning to grow those of your toddler!

I received this book free through a Goodreads giveaway.

[Tami Renshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been the best book I have read on child anxiety! It gave me great practical advice and I feel like I understand anxious kids better. I work with anxious toddlers all the time at work and now I know exactly how to help them at our center! I will be telling the parents who go to our center all about this great resource. I would recommend it for any parent with a nervous toddler or pre-schooler. There were creative ideas I had never even thought about.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide to anxious behavior in toddlers. Written in parent-friendly language, this book provides great strategies for handling anxious behavior. I love that she incorporates the perspective of the child as well as the parents. I will definitely use this book in my infant mental health practice. I received this book free in exchange for my unbiased review.

[Maura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great insight

This book really provided me with a lot to think about, mainly about my own approach to parenting and where I may be contributing to the issues I've been having with my son. Will definitely be re-reading this many times. There's a lot to learn here and a lot opportunities to find ways to help yourself and your family handle anxiety. Great resource.

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t bother finishing this book. It’s sole recommendation for a toddler who feels anxious when they wake up is distracting them with screen time, without even acknowledging the potential issues with this crutch. I know there are times when screen time may be necessary, but it should never be the only option, and the potential consequences should be considered.

[Samantha Enns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful

Really good at understanding childhood anxiety. I really enjoyed the different perspectives that were given in each scenerio. Some helpful tips on getting through to your child but found some of it pretty vague.

[Sam Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly liked the anecdotes from the child’s perspective.

[Anna Demeritt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! Helpful insights not nothing too revolutionary.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book would have been very helpful for me last year when I didn't know what to do with my 2.5 year old. While reading through this I incorporated a few pieces of advice, however most of their suggestions I just began doing organically on my own and through research on websites/blogs during the last year. Although the book has a nice format and all the information is nice to have in one place I'd say that if you have an older toddler much of the content will feel like "too little too late".