Worry time

The sheet

Slips for the worries that come up during the day, saved for worry time: ten minutes at the same time each afternoon. The second page is for you: how the ten minutes go, and the worries that never wait.

To fill in together · A4, two pages · Two pages · PDF, 69 KB

How it helps

A worry that can turn up at any time tends to turn up at the worst one, often bedtime. Ten minutes of worry time each afternoon gives the worries a set place to go, and gives your child some say over them, which can make the evenings easier for you both.

How to use it

1. Read the second page first: it is for you, and says how the ten minutes go and which worries never wait.
2. Print both pages on one side each, because the slips are cut out, and choose a time with your child that you can keep most days, in the afternoon and well away from bedtime.
3. When a worry comes up during the day, listen briefly and kindly, then help them write it or draw it on a slip and save it for worry time. Never save it if your child tells you that someone is hurting them, that they are hurting themselves, or that they do not want to be alive: hear it straight away and act that day, as the second page says.
4. At worry time, sit beside your child while they decide what to do with each slip. When the ten minutes are up, stop, and go straight on to something normal together.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full, with its sheets. This one goes with When Reassurance Stops Working and Anxiety, by Age.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

• A plan for a bad dayTo fill in together · A4
• Before you ring the schoolFor a call or a meeting · A4
• What to say: school and friendsCards to cut out · A4, eight cards to cut
• Before the SENCo meetingFor a meeting · A4
• Three reports, side by sideFor a meeting · A4 landscape
• The return-to-school meetingFor a meeting · A4
• The move to secondary school, for a parents’ eveningFor a parents’ evening · A4, five pages
• The last half-hour before bedFor the fridge · A4
• The worry ladderTo fill in together · A4
• Before you see the GP about your childFor an appointment · A4, two sides
• A record of what happenedFor a call or a meeting · A4, two pages
• The people I can tellTo make together · A4, two pages

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.