From striking up conversations with other parents at the playground, hosting playdates with our child’s new best friend, attending a birthday party without knowing the other parents there, and even just navigating the perceived (and sometimes very real) judgment from others, once we become parents we often find ourselves in social situations we may never have been in before.

Here to help parents work through any social anxiety they may feel and learn how they can best support the development of their child’s social skills in spite of a parent’s own fears, is therapist Justine Carino.From striking up conversations with other parents at the playground, hosting playdates with our child’s new best friend, attending a birthday party without knowing the other parents there, and even just navigating the perceived (and sometimes very real) judgment from others, once we become parents we often find ourselves in social situations we may never have been in before.

When our children feel anxious or afraid, it can be difficult for parents to know exactly how they should respond. Many parents put pressure on themselves to solve or fix this problem for their child, which is often impossible and a less than ideal way to handle this tricky situation.

Joining me to talk about childhood anxiety and offer support for parents navigating this in their own family is the author of Goodbye, Anxiety: A Guided Journal for Overcoming Worry, Dr. Terri Bacow.

You’ll learn a framework you can use that will work toward helping your child learn to cope with their anxiety, rather than avoiding their fear, and factors to help you determine if and when it’s time to seek professional support.

Were you uninvited to a birthday party, laughed at by a group of mean girls, or maybe even bullied? If you had some tough times in elementary, middle, or high school, it’s easy to inadvertently be projecting your own experiences onto your child as they develop their own social group.

Last week’s Securely Attached episode was all about peer rejection in toddlerhood—how to make space for a dialogue, develop a growth mindset, and help your child build their compassion, empathy, and social awareness.

While the fundamentals are the same, peer rejection in elementary or pre-teen child years can be much more nuanced. So Dr. Emily Upshur of Upshur Bren Psychology Group is back to help parents of older kiddos learn how best to support them, when to step in, how much emotional scaffolding to provide, and some key indicators that it may be time to seek professional help.