I get anxious because my daughter has anxiety.

They are running in the cross-country race at school tomorrow, but I don’t want to go and watch. For the past two years, one of my girls has cried because she didn’t want to run. This is the third year and I don’t want it to happen again. Maybe she will perform better if I’m not there.

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HootyTheNightOwl

Any chance you could go and hide among the parents until after the race???

I'm wondering if she'd still carry on in the same way if she thinks that you're not there???

Another question:- How are her knees???

The reason why I'm asking that is, as I went through growth spurt all children seem to have just before puberty, I started suffering from a lot of knee joint pain that was initially put down to growing pains.

It took several appointments before they realised that my knees don't meet properly in that joint.

If your daughter has this condition, running long distances will make the pain worse for her (walking hurts enough and it made 9 year old me cry at night).

GunFinger · F

@HootyTheNightOwl that's actually one option I can do. I won't tell her that I'll be there until they're finished. Only my eldest daughter would know, but I'll tell her not to say anything. Her feet/knees are okay she can run everywhere. She just has this anxiety of doing things in front of people.

HootyTheNightOwl

@GunFinger I would tell them both that you're not going to be there - that way, you're not encouraging them to keep secrets from the other... and there's no chance that your eldest could accidentally let the cat out of the bag.

It'd be interesting for you to see for yourself what she's like when she knows that you are not there and this is probably one of the best chances you might get to do this. You've got other parents there to help you to blend in with the crowd.

Unless you need to step in to avoid emergencies like dehydration or heat stroke, waiting to see how she copes when you are not there could reassure you or show you where you can help with her new healthy coping mechanisms.

GunFinger · F

@HootyTheNightOwl thank you. That is a good idea. Thank you so much.