The Power of the Pause in Your Child’s Anxiety and OCD
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
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When our child is anxious or stuck in OCD, everything can feel urgent. The questions, the reassurance seeking, the distress, the pressure to fix it right away. As parents, our instinct is often to respond quickly so we can calm things down. But sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is pause.
In this episode, I talk about the power of the pause and why slowing down our response can actually help our kids build resilience and break the anxiety and OCD cycle. A pause gives us space to respond intentionally instead of reacting out of stress, fear, or urgency. It also models for our kids that discomfort doesn’t have to be solved immediately.
If you are a parent who feels pulled to jump in quickly when your child is anxious, asks for reassurance, or gets stuck in OCD loops, this episode will help you see how a small pause can create big shifts in how you support your child.
🧡 Register for my free series Survival Tools for Parents Raising Kids with Anxiety or OCD
Links mentioned in podcast:
Podcast: How to Use Reassurance Cards
Podcast: How to Create an Effective Incentive Plan
Podcast: How to Help Kids with Perfectionism
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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
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| 0:00.0 | Before we dive into today's episode, I want to make sure you know about something that could really |
| 0:05.2 | change the way you support your child with anxiety or OCD. I am running a free video series called |
| 0:11.7 | survival tools for parents raising kids with anxiety and OCD, and it is packed with practical |
| 0:17.6 | strategies and insights. Honestly, I wish every single parent had because you're going to |
| 0:23.4 | learn how to get your child to open up and communicate more. Who doesn't need that? Create exposures |
| 0:28.8 | that they'll actually want to do or be willing to do. And most importantly, build a home environment |
| 0:35.4 | that supports long-term progress and not just crisis |
| 0:39.8 | management like so many of us are doing. This is the kind of information that's hard to find |
| 0:45.3 | unless you're deep in the trenches, and I want to make it as accessible as possible. |
| 0:51.0 | Register now for free at atparenting Survival Series.com. The series runs from |
| 0:58.5 | April 16th through April 24th. I'll see you over there. Welcome to the AT Parenting |
| 1:07.4 | Survival Podcast, where you get help and guidance through the chaos of parenting a child with anxiety or OCD. |
| 1:14.4 | This show is for educational purposes and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional. |
| 1:20.9 | Here's your host, child therapist, Natasha Daniels. |
| 1:24.6 | Well, hello there, and welcome to another episode of the AT Parenting Survival |
| 1:29.5 | podcast. Today I want to talk to you about something that I've been playing around with at my |
| 1:34.8 | house and I'm finding it to be very effective. And so I want to talk to you about it today and see |
| 1:39.9 | what you think. But the power of pausing. Now, it might seem like that seems so small and |
| 1:48.4 | inconsequential in the world of everything that we are all dealing with. But there is so |
| 1:53.6 | much power in pausing. And I want to go into why that is, how to start using that and what I've seen in my home. But before we jump in |
| 2:05.5 | a couple announcements, first, I want to thank No CD for sponsoring this episode. NoCD offers |
| 2:11.3 | affordable, effective, convenient therapy. They're available in the U.S. and outside the U.S. |
... |
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