How To Help Your Child When They Have Anxiety About School
As adults, we often forget that we aren’t the only ones who get anxious. It’s easy to think that children have completely carefree attitudes without a thing to worry about. After all, they don’t have to worry about finances, careers, household responsibilities, etc. What could be any better?
The truth is, it’s really common for children to experience anxiety. Most often, we associate anxiety symptoms in children as it relates to test anxiety or being nervous about a presentation. However, children can also experience anxiety when it comes to going back to school. Whether it is going back to school after summer or winter break, students of all ages can feel distressed about returning to school.
If your child is nervous about school starting up again, thankfully, there are plenty of ways to help them transition. Let’s first go over signs of school anxiety, followed by some simple suggestions for you to help ease their worries.
Anxiety Signs To Watch For In Children
Complaining about stomach aches or headaches with no obvious cause
Avoiding normal activities they would enjoy
In younger children, tantrums when they are faced with being separated from their family
Being more irritable or moody the closer to the school start-up date
Trouble falling asleep at night
How To Help Your Child With Back To School Anxiety
You might feel helpless knowing your child is struggling with anxiety, especially when it comes to something they can’t avoid. Knowing the signs of anxiety in children and how to help them are two completely different situations. Depending on the age of your child, you may find the following helpful:
Elementary Aged Children
Try to start/keep them on a normal routine of a set bedtime and setting out tomorrow’s clothes.
Set up a time for them to have play dates with their friends, especially before summer ends. Seeing a familiar face when school starts back up can help them feel less anxious.
A major source of anxiety is being away from their family. Try to practice the school drop-off with them. Or spend time away from them, such as letting them go to a friend’s house for a few hours to get them used to being away from you.
Let them know how they feel is completely normal and validate their feelings. You may mean well by saying something like, “You have nothing to worry about!” but this can actually make them feel a lot worse about the situation.
Middle School & High School Aged Children
As children get older, to some degree, they do get used to going back to school. However, even older kids get worried about going back to school. As they age, it becomes less about being separated from their parents and siblings and more about school-related things. You can help your older children by:
Encourage them to feel excited about new sports or clubs they can try out for.
Let them spend extra time with friends.
Encourage them to talk about things from the previous school year. They may fear something happening again, so they might feel better letting it all out.
Remind them that they can always talk to you about what makes them nervous. Whether it’s their academics or social lives, they should see you as a source of comfort in the hardest of times. This can majorly help their anxiety by knowing they have someone on their side.
In the first few weeks of school starting again, let them have relaxation time when they get home from school. This way, they have time to decompress before starting homework, studying, or doing chores.
It’s hard to know that your child is anxious about things that neither you nor they have control over. If you are wondering if your child is going through something more than just normal anxiety, don’t hesitate to reach out. Together with anxiety therapy, I can help you find solutions to ease your child’s or teen’s anxiety.
