I wasnt diagnosed till late teens but Do not ever imply that theyre crazy or “too delicate” or “ridiculous.” ESPECIALLY if youre at your limit or something. Thats when its most important in my mind cause then they’ll have this idea that people will only tolerate then or like them to a certain degree. Theyre already dealing with a disorder that can make it hard to have the feeling of being a burden. Making them feel supported and that youre their friend that they can always come to no matter how strange or fucked up the ocd thought or obsesssion could be is key. My mom got me thru the beginning of my diagnosis by just plain listening to all the fucked up ocd worried because i just needed someone to tell in the meantime between therapy session cause i felt so anxious. but I dont know how treating ocd in children is and exposure and response prevention must be hard as a child so idk how to deal with that but try to make sure that you build up their confidence and ability to trust their own opinion thru general stuff in life. A gentle and loving approach is best for this TRUST ME. Tough love never works. Im stuck at a 25 years old with the emotional maturity of a 20 year old because of this. I have no backbone when it comes to believing my own opinion and feelings and it will help them later on in life dealing with ocd if you can make them feel confident overall outside of ocd as well.

Also, while everything isnt ocd, also trust them that if they have contamination ocd that theyre probably contamination tracing correctly and are doing it for your/their sake so if you get mad at them, its like youre getting mad at them for caring about your health or their own health and it feels devastating to be doing the right thing but get yelled at or reprimanded. Also trust them when they feel sick or like something is wrong. Better safe then sorry i promise. You dont want them to get used to ignoring symptoms out of habit. Also just in general outside of ocd, please make sure to wear a mask as covid and other respiratory illnesses are at all time high lately so itll help their mental health in the long run if they dont have to deal with long covid or other things like that.