Nervousness in Children

In modern-day life, like adults, small children are also under a lot of stress. When it continues for a long time, they cannot cope up with it anymore and tend to become anxious and restless, which is described as nervousness. Children of any age group can suffer from this problem.

When kids growing up in an unhealthy home environment, their young mind get a sense of insecurity. If parents punish their children by locking them in a dark room or closet, it can make any child nervous. Sometimes, they may get frightened by ghost stories, scary movies or dogs, so much that they develop nervousness.

The causes of nervousness vary from one child to the other. Usually, pressure of education and careless and inefficient parenting are found to have a vital role in the majority of cases. Academic non-performance, high expectations of parents, peer pressure, etc. are some of the factors that contribute towards the fear psychosis in the child.

When nagging, scolding, faultfinding, beating are some of the methods taken up by parents to "educate" the child, it adversely affects their nervous system. It could also arise due to a hereditary condition known as neurotic diathesis, where the nervous system of the child is not in a stable condition.

The physical appearance and the behavior of the child changes a lot because of nervousness. A nervous kid is rarely physically well-developed and mentally alert. Pale face, red and dry lips, and loose muscles are a few of the visible signs of nervousness.

Mild fever and bad breath are some minor symptoms that can come and go. In severe cases, symptoms like bed wetting (enuresis), diarrhea or constipation, vomiting and other physical ailments are observed.

At times, they become hyperactive, but it does not last for a long time. Nervous fatigue makes them physically exhausted very easily. Due to nervousness, children tend to get annoyed and irritated quite often. These children find it difficult to fall asleep. Even when they sleep, it is not a sound sleep and they get up a number of times during the night.

Eating habits of the children get affected. Sometimes, they feel very hungry and at other times, they lose their appetite without any reason. A nervous child is usually underweight, and the weight fails to increase even after eating nutritious foods. If the child is undernourished, then they may get a thin body with exaggerated spines and protruding abdomen.

There is no quick fix solution to the problem of nervousness in children. The case history of the child's entire life has to be studied by the doctor to understand the underlying cause that triggered the nervous reaction. Once the root cause is identified, treatment becomes easier. It has to be treated with lots of sympathy and understanding.

The symptoms of nervousness in kids are often ignored as there is no clear indication that the child is nervous. However, parents, teachers or any other person who deal with children should always keep a close watch on the child behavior, so that they can identify the symptoms at an early stage.

After that, you have to work with the child to induce willpower that can overcome anxiety symptoms and strengthen their nerves. Thus, you can save your child from some serious chronic ailments.