anxiety

Friday I spent the day in Seattle attending a conference on Childhood Anxiety Disorder. My secondary motivation was CEUs to keep up my certification, but my primary motive was to learn how to deal with Max's anxiety. For example, today in primary he chose to sit outside in the snow (without a coat) rather than attend his primary class. Tony eventually figured out that he was afraid of having the door shut. As soon as the door was open, he participated without problem.

Last week I was at my wit's end with the kid and prayed hard. My answer was to give him a cheese stick before any type of discipline. This was probably one of my weirdest answers to prayer, so weird I truly doubted it as an answer. Interestingly, in the first 15 minutes of my conference, the presenter emphasized the significance of maintaining blood sugar levels in decreasing anxiety in children. That explains the cheese stick. I was reminded yet again of my total dependence on the Lord in raising these kids, especially the neurotic and claustrophobic 4-year old ones.