10 Indicators That Your Child Is Emotionally Overwhelmed

Some children are not capable of accurately expressing their overwhelming feeling through vocabulary. As a result, it is often illustrated through behavioral manifestations. Identifying behavioral signs is crucial to prevent escalation of emotional overwhelm.

Signals to Watch for Signs of Stress

• Regression can be a sign of stress. Look for clingy behavior in a previously independent child.
• Look for unexplained headaches or stomach aches. Stress can show itself in physical symptoms.
• Look for exaggerated emotional responses to relatively minor or small events.
• Look for withdrawing from previously enjoyed activities. That can include sports and social and hobby networks.
• Look for changes to sleep patterns including trouble getting to sleep or nightmares. Also look for a reversion to previously enjoyed sleep arrangements, including sleep in the parent's bed.
• Look for increased irritability, especially when it occurs in the absence of irritability in the child's school day.
• -Look for trouble focusing and a decrease in school performance.
• Look for a child speaking in a negative or self-defeating manner.
• -Look for changes in eating habits including refusal to eat or eating large amounts of food.

- Look for increased questioning about hypothetical scenarios including what can happen if bad things occur.

These do not elicit the expected response when you ask, "what's wrong?" Instead, try, "something seems to be bothering you. I can be available when you want to talk about it.

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