The Huge Bag of Worries

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Prepare the inside:If you’re using a cardboard box rather than a tissue box, cut a small opening or “mouth” in one side of the box so you can slip your worries inside. You can also add a lining made of paper, fabric, or any other soft material to the interior.

Each of them has its own pros and cons, they may require certain skill sets and work in different contexts. However, there are different approaches to the worry box concept that can be adapted to suit children’s different needs and preferences. P.P.S. Sometime ago I wrote the foreword and collaborated with author Elaheh Bos on A Spot of Blue, a story for young children about anxiety, in which this coping technique and others are shared. You may want to take a look! Older children will also benefit from using a worry box to make sense of what’s on their mind, and this will help prevent rumination. There’s something about physically writing or drawing your thoughts that helps is process them in a much more helpful way, than if they stay in our heads. With your hot glue gun, place a line of glue all the way down the line of the white foam teeth that you cut out.What do you think about the worry jar technique? In my experience, anxious kids really get into this technique and find it very helpful. Will you try it? Please let me know how it goes. Dr Lucy Russell is a UK clinical psychologist who works with children and families. Her work involves both therapeutic support and autism assessments. She is the Clinical Director of Everlief Child Psychology, and also worked in the National Health Service for many years. As well as this worry bag activity, there are lots of other ways you can help your children to think and talk about their worries and emotions. We've got these brilliant teacher-made resources for you to try: Using your worry box:The next time your child feels worried or anxious, encourage them to write the worry down on a piece of paper and slip it into the worry box’s opening. It can take a couple of weeks to establish this as a habit, so persistence is key.

You can also use a jar, an envelope, or any container that serves the same purpose of storing worries away. By using the worry jar, at some point your child will likely tell you that he or she is no longer worrying about something he or she had previously put in the jar. This is the exciting part for your child as this discovery represents success at overcoming a worry! Celebrate these moments together and make a big deal out of it. Have your child remove the worry and rip it up.

Worry Monster Box Tutorial

Park feelings or emotions that they may not be able to cope with at the present moment until they are ready to deal with them. Overall, you are teaching your child that they can be in charge of their worried thoughts, rather than the worried thoughts controlling them. Related Articles

A worry box can be a great way to help children cope with their worries and big feelings. It provides a tangible place for them to deposit their concerns, which can be particularly beneficial for younger children who may struggle with abstract concepts. As a child psychologist who specialized in work with anxious children, I often had kids write down their worries and put the paper in a worry box. The relief for most children was immediate because they could name their worry, write it down and then put the paper into a closed container. The worry was contained and therefore felt more manageable. Initially, I used a simple box with a lid and named it the Worry Box. With the writing of my children’s book on worry, the worry box was enhanced to be a child-created monster that can be as unique, ugly, crazy or silly as the child wants.Place a dab of glue above the open mouth in the center of the box for each eyeball. Place the eyeballs on the box. Your monster could be any color and have anything added to it. There are endless ideas on the web if you look under “monsters made out of tissue boxes” or just DIY monsters. Let this monster be your child’s creation. The important concept is to have a mouth or a slot where your child can insert a paper with a written or drawn worry. How to use a worry box