Many students face back-to-school jitters this time of the year but for some kids, a return to the classroom can bring out more serious anxiety. A recent study found that anxiety in kids has increased by more than 29 percent in recent years now kids will be readjusting to the classroom.
A conversation about mental health that sometimes can be uncomfortable? It can be uncomfortable so i think it’s really important that when parents are starting a conversation with their kids.
So rather than saying something like are you feeling really nervous about your first day of school next week. May student also have stress about their assignment and they want python assignment help . We encourage parents to ask something like how are you feeling about going back into the classroom next week.
What if you say how are you feeling and you get the kind of teenage response of like fine I’m all right then you can probe a little bit more. It it’s possible if they’re feeling fine but i think that you can also um discuss some of the things that might be different about the school year. If that triggers anything um that they bring up. I think that one thing that feels a little bit different we know that last year. I think was really the big year that most kids went back into the classroom after a year. Half of the either remote or hybrid instruction so being back in the classroom.
Paused extracurricular activities:
This year might be less anxiety-provoking than in the past although that we know that mass mandates are a little bit different this year we also know that a lot of schools. Sort of paused extracurricular activities in the past has begun to reinstate those so there are other things about this. The school year might be different you can start conversations about with kids what are some of the signs. According to top dissertation writing services uk we should be looking for when detecting anxiety and then what once you’ve identified it sure.
They’re the classic things that we tend to see in kids who might be experiencing anxiety some kids might come out. say it although we encourage parents to look for things like overt changes in behavior if they’re noticing an increase in irritability. An increase in frustration or more kids who are more easily triggered by things that otherwise. They might have been able to roll off their back a little bit more easily changes in sleep so kids who are having a hard time falling asleep at night.
Who might be waking up periodically throughout them the night or even waking up much earlier than usual in the morning we often. We often notice that kids are increased showing clinginess or they might be showing complaints of stomach aches or headaches. They don’t typically have god’s making up excuses um i know you can see what happens at your house you’re going to school you suggest a test run for kids what is what does that look like sure so part of the anxiety is the unknown. So um to the extent.
Relieving kid’s discomfort:
We can help kids to preview what the school year might look like can be really helpful in relieving kids discomfort around the new school year. So if kids are going to a new school for the first time maybe do a drive by the school walking to the school. They can sort of see what that initial introduction will be introducing them to their teachers yeah. There are some school districts around the country that have uh mental health days so you could take a sick day in essence.
You can be flagged as a mental health day you can just not go uh is that helpful? Do you think for kids it’s a really great question? Rates of anxiety are rising pretty significantly over the past couple of years um and everyone benefits. From taking a pause and having an opportunity to recharge as needed especially kids. Who are under tremendous stress um now relative to uh in the past.
I think it can have a really healthy place in the school year if it’s used as an escape from something that’s anxiety-provoking then that ends up reinforcing. The anxiety so um we want to just be mindful about how those days are used some really great tips.
There i like the idea of going to school and getting your mind set. Ready to go back yeah and then you got to get into bed earlier absolutely. Whole different conversation well it’s green time monitoring right there turn that phone. Off yeah Laura Phillips thank you so much for joining us thanks for having me absolutely
