Your Child’s Behavior
How Common Is This?
Around 1 in 7 (14%) Australian children and adolescents aged 4-17 experience a mental illness, according to the Young Minds Matter survey — including conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and behavioural disorders. Around 1 in 10 children score in the “of concern” range for behavioural and emotional difficulties on standard screening measures, with the proportion rising through primary school age.
The Impact on Families
Parenting a child through behavioural or emotional challenges is genuinely demanding. Everyday moments — school drop-off, mealtimes, homework, family outings — can become a source of ongoing stress. Parents often describe feeling unsure where to turn, and siblings and the broader family routine are affected too. Connecting with the right professional support can make a meaningful difference to how manageable day-to-day life feels.
Does This Sound Like You or Your Child?
- Frequent tantrums or difficulty calming down once upset
- Trouble following instructions or transitioning between activities
- Big reactions to small changes in routine
- Difficulty sharing, taking turns, or getting along with peers
- Frequent arguing, defiance, or difficulty accepting “no”
- Strong emotional reactions that feel hard to talk them down from
- Difficulty settling for sleep or a consistent bedtime routine
When your child’s nervous system is dysregulated and stuck in fight or flight, their body shifts into survival mode. This is a protective response, not a choice or a character trait. In survival mode, the brain redirects resources away from emotional regulation, impulse control and rational thought, and toward threat response instead. The parts of the brain responsible for pausing, thinking clearly and choosing a calm reaction become less available, because the nervous system has prioritised protection over processing.
This is why a dysregulated child can seem to react disproportionately to what’s actually happening around them, their body isn’t overreacting, it’s doing exactly what a nervous system in survival mode is designed to do.
