American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry:  All children experience anxiety. Anxiety in children is expected and normal at specific times in development. For example, from approximately age 8 months through the preschool years, healthy youngsters may show intense distress (anxiety) at times of separation from their parents or other caregivers with whom they are close. Young children may have short-lived fears, (such as fear of the dark, storms, animals, or strangers).

Anxious children are often overly tense or uptight. Some may seek a lot of reassurance, and their worries may interfere with activities. Parents should not discount a child's fears. Because anxious children may also be quiet, compliant and eager to please, their difficulties may be missed. Parents should be alert to the signs of severe anxiety so they can intervene early to prevent complications.

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New situations, challenging tasks, and even unfamiliar people can lead to fear and anxiety in children from time to time.

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Other age-appropriate fears include:

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• Stranger anxiety beginning at 7 to 9 months of age

• Fear of the dark, monsters, insects, and animals in preschoolers

• Fear of heights or storms in younger school-age children

• Worry about school and friends in older school-age children and teens

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It takes a little more than occasional anxiety, which can be normal, to indicate true symptoms of an anxiety disorder.

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Childhood Anxiety Symptoms

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As much as it is common to have occasional anxiety, it is also common for children to have anxiety disorders. [1]

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Children with true anxiety symptoms have them on most days and they can include:

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• Restlessness

• Fatigue

• Trouble concentrating

• Irritability

• Muscle tension

• Trouble sleeping (insomnia)

Anxiety and depression can be caused  by various traumatic experiences.