Top 10 Takeaways from “The Worry Free Parent”, by Sissy Goff

By Raeanne Johnson, CPNP-PMHS

You are the biggest agent of change in your child’s fight against anxiety.

Sissy Goff, LPC-MHSP is the director of child and adolescent counseling at Daystar Counseling Ministries in Nashville, TN. She has written several books and has a podcast called “Raising Boys and Girls” with colleague David Thomas.

The book is divided into three sections, Understanding the Past, Help for the Present and Hope for the Future. Each chapter concludes with a worry free takeaway and little pep talk from Sissy. There is also an accompanying work book which would make this a wonderful tool for small groups. This is written from a Christian worldview, but the strategies are applicable to all belief backgrounds.

1-Statistics on the prevalence of anxiety.

-30% of children and adolescence experience anxiety, 80% never receive help

-If a parent has anxiety, their kids are seven times more likely to deal with it

-Girls are twice as likely as boys to suffer from anxiety, but boys are taken in for

treatment more often.

2-CBT Triangle , what it is and how to use it.

3-Anxiety is caught and taught, both through our brain chemistry and how we relate to our kids.

4-Anxiety makes us attach future meaning to present problems.

5-Anxiety plus intensity equals micromanaging.

6-Five ways the anxiety of parents impacts kids

1-Sidecar parenting-my kid is *just* like me and we’re walking the same anxious road.

2-Backhoe parenting-always going behind and cleaning up after kids-very controling.

3-Snowplow parenting-always making life magical and easy for their kids.

4-Helicopter parenting-hypervigilant and fighting their battles, “overparenting”.

5-Parade float parenting-if I just keep them happy enough, they’ll never be anxious.

7-Neuroplasticity works and creating new pathways is possible-helpful info on amygdala and cortex.

8-Breathwork, grounding and mindfulness discussed at length.

9-Try softer, let the bottom 20% go.

10-Feelings are not facts, they don’t have to overwhelm or define you.