Handling Back to School Stress
Summer comes and goes so quickly and often children wish that it would last forever. I don’t blame them! With summer coming to an end, parents often wonder how to best help their child through this transition in order to manage their uncomfortable feelings.
These tips and tricks can be helpful for this transition period:
Discuss any unknowns and make them known. Uncertainty causes a lot of stress and worry in our brains. Learning our child’s schedule, who their teachers are, and possibly who is in their class is a great way to have your child know what to expect. If they are new to the school or beginning Kindergarten: make a social story for them to know what to expect or plan a tour of the school, so they can begin to feel comfortable.
Allow your child to feel and process their emotions. Whatever your child feels about the upcoming school year is okay, our goal is to help them manage it and know what to do with their feelings as well as validate their emotions. You can do this by asking them how they feel about school coming up, there are no right or wrong emotions about school beginning.
Acknowledge your child’s feelings. Starting a new school year can feel intimidating because new things and changes are scary. Let your child know how they feel and share stories with them about times that you felt scared about something and how you overcame it, especially times starting the new school year.
Let them know that you are there for them. Just sharing with your child that you are there for them and can help them with whatever feeling they feel can work wonders. It opens up the line of communication and allows them to feel seen and heard.
Problem-solve together. Problem-solving is talked a lot about here because it is so important. Having your child feel heard about what they think will be helpful for them is crucial as well as your input about what may be helpful. Problem-solving for our big feelings about school starting may look like this: How are we going to do drop off? How much time do you want to have in the morning? How are we going to pack our lunch? What do we do if we feel anxious at school?
The beginning of the school year is a tricky time for everyone. Parents, know that you are doing the best that you can and give yourself grace when things don’t .
