Knowledge is power. Understanding our worries means we can decide on an appropriate course of action, or simply share it with others and know that we are not alone. This is one of the key principles of cognitive behavioral therapy. 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 At my clinic, Everlief, a very high percentage of the children and young people I work with have sleep difficulties. Often the main cause is worry. Containment is one of the basic principles of CBT. An analogy can help to understand it better. Imagine a yellow dandelion flower. The immature seeds are in the flower head and are contained within the flower. If you pull up the yellow flower, the seeds do not scatter and cannot reproduce. But when the flower changes to a white seedhead with parachute-like seeds, the mature seeds scatter with the slightest puff of wind. You can no longer control dandelions because they are not contained. The seeds spread all over your yard, your neighbor’s yard and far down the road. Soon there are hundreds of new dandelions popping up. What a problem! If only you could contain all those seeds before they spread.

To help your child open up and discuss their emotions, you can start by asking your children how they are feeling; are they angry, sad, happy, scared or worried? You can then identify what might be making them feel this way. Reinforce the idea that it’s okay for your child to feel like this and that we all experience different emotions. By validating their feelings, it helps to build trust between you and your child. This Worry Poster is a great one to use for your classroom displays or at home. It gives practical advice for children if they’re unsure how to approach their concerns. Each of them has its own pros and cons, they may require certain skill sets and work in different contexts. What if there was a DIY worry box that helped reduce your child’s distress, improved her sleep, and gave you a fun activity to do together? What if the idea behind the craft was based on research and time-tested strategies that successfully lower anxiety? Would you be interested? Of course!

What is a Worry Box?

Express their feelings by writing them on a paper (they can also make a drawing, or you can help them write it down) You can learn to manage your mind effectively to minimise stress and anxiety. You do not need to let your worries control or define you. One of the activities I like to do after reading the book is to give a child a bag and using potatoes add them to the bag one at a time so they get a real feel of how worries can weigh you down. After putting a few potatoes in then take one out at a time as you offload those worries to to someone. The bag feels lighter and you can feel lighter and happier. Place a dab of glue above the open mouth in the center of the box for each eyeball. Place the eyeballs on the box. You may have read about this very same concept described as a Feelings Box, Acceptance Box, or Anxiety Box.

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. 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:With your pencil, trace the bottom of the paint tube to make two big pupils. Cut out the eyeballs and cut out the pupils. Set aside.

There are numerous ways people have found to contain worries. It is often a matter of naming the worry and then putting the worry somewhere in time and space. Some of the most successful methods include journal writing, drawing. imagining shrinking the worry, setting up a specific "worry time" and using a worry box. In my professional work, I used all of these techniques, both together and separately. I often combined the worry box with worry time, which is described below. How to make a worry box One alternative to a traditional, physical worry box is an imaginary worry box. This method may be more suitable for older kids who have developed the necessary imagination skills to visualise a mental box to store their worries. The ease of accessibility and portability of an imaginary worry box can make it an attractive option. However, it might not offer the same level of satisfaction or comfort that handling a physical box can provide. When it comes to the time for taking the worries out of the box and talking them through or reflecting on them, make sure this is not too close to bedtime. The perfect time is late afternoon/early evening e.g. around 6pm, when your child has had a chance to rest and eat after school. Creating a Worry Box Materials Needed For Your Worry Box Although it may be hard for your child to let go of their worry, if you consistently emphasise that you are “holding” the worry and they don’t need to, they stand a good chance of being able to release it eventually. Variations on the Worry Box Worry Journal Select the container:Choose a tissue box or a small cardboard box as the base for your worry box. Make sure it’s big enough to hold your child’s worries, but not so large that it takes up too much space.

When worry thoughts, frustration or overwhelming feelings strike, your child (or you, if your child needs help) can write them down on a piece of paper and store them away in their worry box (or whatever container you chose). It will allow you to talk about emotions (worries, frustrations, anger, insecurities) while you engage in a fun activity. give them a physical way of getting rid of their worries, so they don’t need to carry them around anymore As a parent, you also need to be a skilled listener. Listen carefully to your child’s worries and don’t dismiss them or belittle them (e.g. “don’t be silly”). Place a dab of glue on the top of the box. Place one of the curled pipe cleaners on top. Continue to make a cluster of curled pipe cleaner “hair” on top of the box.

Sometimes when we feel worried, frustrated, or overwhelmed it may help us to store our problems away. To make a worry box, all you need is a container (this could be a box, jar, or even a small bag) that can be decorated or personalised in any way your child prefers. They write or draw their worries on pieces of paper and place them inside the worry box. Your child will learn to “externalise” their anxious thoughts and feelings. It also also offers an opportunity for problem-solving, discussion, validation and emotional exploration. Sometimes, there is nothing we can do about the situations or events that trigger our emotions. In those cases, it may be better to accept those feelings and let them go. We’ll share a tutorial for a fun monster worry box in the next section, but let’s be clear, this technique is equally effective with any box you may have lying around in the house. 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.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. 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. You can also help your children to relieve anxiety and stress with this Homemade Stress Ball activity. Take out each worry from the box, read it, and spend some time reflecting on it together Allow your child to feel, analyze, and process the worry. Try to help them “detach” from the worry. For example, how might they help a friend with this same concern? Using the box and writing down your problems on paper also helps to turn something intangible into something they can actually touch, work with, and control.