Early Years Anxiety and the Power of Emotional Connection
- stephaniebradle6
- Aug 7
- 4 min read
From the view of a HLTA Teaching Assistant working in SEN and mainstream primary education
In recent years, a quiet but powerful shift has taken place in our classrooms. As a teaching assistant across both mainstream primary and SEN settings for over thirty-five years, I’ve seen how children as young as three or four are increasingly showing signs of anxiety, low confidence, and emotional dysregulation. These are not isolated cases. The trend is growing.
Children today are facing challenges that often seem unimaginable for their age; the emotional demands on our youngest learners are mounting. Subtle impact at first, withdrawn behaviour, tearfulness, tummy aches, avoidance, but if left unchecked, these signals can grow into entrenched emotional difficulties.
Recognising the Signs of Anxiety in the Early Years
Anxiety in young children rarely announces itself clearly. It’s disguised in behaviours that are often misunderstood: acting up, sudden clinginess, speech regression, avoidance of group activities, or difficulty settling in.
These are not ‘difficult behaviors,’ they are signals, flags of emotional struggle. Yet many children at this age don’t have the vocabulary to say what they’re feeling, or even understand it themselves. That’s where early identification and emotional teaching becomes crucial.
Why Early Intervention Matters
When children enter Key Stage One, many emotional patterns are already in place. If left unsupported, these patterns of anxiety, avoidance, or emotional shutdown, can limit not only academic potential but social development and long-term wellbeing.
Research in child psychology and neuroscience tells us that early childhood is a critical period for emotional development. It is during these early years that children begin to form ideas about self-worth, belonging, empathy, and how the world feels to them.
Early intervention isn’t just beneficial, it’s foundational. Emotional literacy should be treated with the same importance as learning to read or count. Waiting until older years to address these challenges means working against years of deeply ingrained patterns.
The Role of Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has become a cornerstone of early years education for good reason. SEL promotes the development of emotional intelligence, empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to self-regulate. In my own experience, when SEL is embedded early, children are more engaged, more confident, and more capable of navigating daily challenges. When children begin to discuss their emotions, when they are shown how to name and question feelings, their entire school experience changes. They become more open, more curious, and emotionally stronger.
The Importance of Language, Stories, and Discussion
In my practice, one of the most effective strategies for emotional support has been interactive storytelling and structured discussions. Choosing stories that don’t just entertain, but invite children to reflect, question, and personally relate. Stories offer a safe space to explore emotions. Through characters, children can externalise their own fears and joys. We must create space for open-ended questions,
“How do you think they felt?” “What would you do? “ “What would you do if that happened?” “Why do you think she was sad?”
In mainstream/SEN environments, I’ve seen children who had previously struggled to talk about their feelings, begin to open up when using stories designed with intentional prompts, it creates space for meaningful conversations that spark critical thinking and discussion.
The Impact of Daily Acts of Kindness
One of the simplest yet most profound ways to promote mental and emotional wellbeing in young children is to foster kindness, daily, visible, consistent acts of it. This isn’t about grand gestures, but the small ones: helping a friend tidy up, offering comfort to someone who is sad, saying “thank you” or “well done.” I’ve found that when kindness becomes a classroom norm, anxiety diminishes. Children begin to look out for each other. They feel safer, more valued, more included. And from that place of emotional safety, they are more willing to take learning risks, to participate, to grow. Kindness, empathy, and connection are not soft skills. They are essential life tools.
My experience already confirms, early emotional education changes lives. I’ve seen children who once cried every morning grow into confident classroom leaders. I’ve seen anxious children begin to open up when given safe ways to express themselves. And I’ve seen children with additional needs bloom when their feelings are acknowledged and respected.
The Bottom Line
If we want to address the rise in early childhood anxiety, we must act early and consistently. Emotional literacy, kindness, and critical reflection are not extras, they are as crucial as phonics and numeracy. All children need to be understood and use of emotional tools, language, connection, support and patience, can create safe spaces where children can be seen, not just for what they do, but also for the incredible individual’s they are.
Drawing from my experience in the mainstream and SEN classroom, I recently published a social story designed to support children’s emotional development. “Have You Helped Someone Sparkle Today?” An interactive picture book for children aged 3-7, written and illustrated to promote Social Emotional Learning (SEL), mental wellbeing, inclusion, and daily acts of kindness.
The book features dialogic text on every page to encourage questioning, discussion-based learning, and personal reflection, making it a valuable resource for both home and classroom use. To support continued learning and engagement, free downloadable resources are also available, including Secret Sparkle Challenges, Sparkle Trackers, and Sparkle Certificates, ideal for reinforcing positive behaviour and emotional growth in young readers. Every child deserves the chance to sparkle - and that starts with emotional safety.
Instagram: @stephaniebradleyauthor
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