How to Tell the Difference Between Anxiety, OCD, and “Just Kid Worries”
AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety
Natasha Daniels: Child Therapist, Child Anxiety and OCD Expert, Parenting Coach and Parent
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do you know if your child is just worried, anxious, or dealing with OCD?
Kids worry. That’s normal. But sometimes fear sticks around longer than it should and starts to take over daily life. In this episode, I break down the differences between typical kid worries, anxiety, and OCD so you can better understand what your child is really struggling with.
We talk about:
-What developmentally typical fears and worries include
-How anxiety shows up over time
-How OCD includes intrusive thoughts and the urge to do something for relief
-Why treatment looks different for anxiety versus OCD
If you have ever wondered whether something is developmentally normal or a sign your child needs extra support, this episode will help you make sense of it.
You are not overreacting for paying attention. Understanding the difference is the first step to helping your child get unstuck.
⚠️ Grab any courses you have wanted before our pricing goes up on March 1, 2026 at AT Parenting Survival School
***
This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides online OCD therapy in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. To schedule your free 15 minute consultation to see if NOCD is a right fit for you and your child, go to
https://go.treatmyocd.com/at_parenting
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace the guidance of a qualified professional.
Parents, do you need more support?
🌸 Here’s are resources I offer parents 👇🏻❤️
Online classes for parents raising kids with anxiety and OCD:
https://atparentingsurvivalschool.com
Join the AT Parenting Community (A membership designed to support parents raising kids with anxiety or OCD):
https://atparentingcommunity.com
Take one of my FREE webinars:
www.Natashadaniels.com/webinars
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, where you get help and guidance through the chaos |
| 0:08.6 | of parenting a child with anxiety or OCD. |
| 0:12.1 | This show is for educational purposes and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified |
| 0:17.2 | professional. |
| 0:18.7 | Here's your host, Child Therapist, Natasha Daniels. Well, hello there, |
| 0:23.4 | and welcome to another episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast. Today, I want to talk to you |
| 0:29.2 | about the difference between anxiety, OCD, and just typical developmentally appropriate kid worries. |
| 0:40.4 | A lot of times these overlap, and so sometimes it's not one or the other. But learning how to differentiate what beast you're dealing with |
| 0:45.5 | is really important. Before we jump into that, though, I want to thank No CD for sponsoring this |
| 0:51.4 | episode. NoCD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy, |
| 0:55.9 | and they're available in the U.S. and outside the U.S. You can schedule your free 15-minute |
| 1:01.2 | consultation to see if no CD is a right fit for you and your child. Just go to treat myocd.com. |
| 1:08.0 | That's treat myoced.com. Also, if you have been wanting to get one of my courses or one of my workshops, we are currently letting you know that all of the pricing of my courses are going up starting March 1st. So this is the final week to grab my courses at its lower |
| 1:30.1 | level. I have not increased my courses, the pricing of my courses since I've created them back in 2015. |
| 1:38.8 | So 11 years ago, so pretty crazy. And they were already pretty affordable. I underpriced them to begin with. |
| 1:46.1 | So do check them out and grab what you want before the pricing goes up. That way you don't email |
| 1:50.7 | me next week and say, hey, what happened? I'm telling you now. So you can check that out at |
| 1:55.9 | atyparenting survival school.com. And you can get courses on how to teach kids to crush OCD. |
| 2:03.9 | I have a kids course on how to crush OCD. I have a course on how to teach kids to crash anxiety. |
| 2:09.2 | I have a space study treatment course. I have how to handle difficult behavior caused by anxiety |
| 2:15.0 | in OCD, how to handle sleep struggles caused by anxiety and OCD, how to handle sleep struggles caused by |
| 2:18.4 | anxiety and OCD. Those are all different courses. And there's a whole bunch of workshops as well. |
... |
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