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 children suffer from an anxiety disorder the threat detector in their brain is on overdrive and more and more they rely on their parents to protect and soothe them. And while parents have the best intentions, this interpersonal dance can actually serve to increase the severity and frequency of anxiety in children.

Dr. Eli Lebowitz of the Yale Child Study Center has pioneered a new treatment that interrupts that dance! By altering the way parents respond to their child when they are in distress, rather than fueling the flames of anxiety, parents are able to lessen the symptoms, all without asking their child to change his or her behavior in any way.

It can be difficult and scary to talk about death as adults, so having to do so with our kids can cause us to freeze up and shut down. But by being open and honest about death, an inevitable part of life, we lay the groundwork our children need to develop the tools to process loss and work through feelings of grief and pain.