Dealing with Back-to-School Anxiety
As students across the country begin their preparations, both materially and mentally, for the upcoming school year – it is important to remember just how difficult this back-to-school period can be for many young people. Worries surrounding social status and academic pressure can sometimes build to almost unsurmountable levels in the leadup to the new school year – especially for students aging up from middle to high school or attending a new school. However, with empathetic parental and community support, these anxieties can be worked through to find a newfound sense of independence and confidence.
Back-to-School Transition
The transition between summer break and the new school year may seem somewhat trivial to an adult who has gone through the entire process already, but for kids, this nebulous place of uncertainty can either be filled with excitement, fear, or often a mixture of the two. However, for kids who are unconfident in their social skills or their academic abilities, this transitory period could be a constant dread, one that could negatively affect their school experience once they do finally arrive.
How to Support Your Child with Back-to-School Anxiety
For parents and loved ones, the most important thing to do is not to minimize or discount a child’s feelings as simply a natural part of childhood or something they may quickly get over – even if, oftentimes, it is. Allowing a child to be heard and understood, surrounding their anxieties, and giving honest advice from your own experiences, which doesn’t condescend to them, can be the start of a genuine working towards self-confidence and anxiety management.
Give your child the opportunity to truly express the fears surrounding school, which are causing this anxiety, and attempt to understand, empathize, and advise them with practical, non-judgmental solutions that do not minimize or trivialize the emotions the child is going through.
Allow them to understand that childhood is a time of experimentation and exploration of who one’s self is, and the struggles that come along with that process – but emphasize that their feelings around that process are important, and that you are a person they can be honest with about those feelings without fear of judgment or retribution.
School Anxiety in Parents
Clinical psychologist John Duffy, when interviewed for Parents, asserted that back-to-school anxiety also isn’t fully limited to the students themselves: “The fears that parents experience are multiplying at the beginning of every school year.” Sometimes it can be important to take a step back and not become too anxious about your child’s well-being in the new school year, as kids can often pick up on these signals and feel as if their anxiousness is even more justified.
It is important to understand that as a child’s support system, it is best to remain serious about your young loved one’s concerns while understanding these issues are often necessary parts of childhood development and building resilience and not stressing yourself or your loved ones to a disproportionate level.
Back-to-school anxiety, as the name implies, most often fades shortly after the school year begins, once kids have gotten used to the routine of school and, most often, because the worries they have quickly dissipated when said fears do not come to pass.
However, if your child or loved one is still experiencing that fear and dread surrounding school well into the beginning of the year – there may be more serious concerns around their school experience which should not be ignored. Talk to them openly and allow them the chance to express their troubles at their own pace, and work with them, and the school if necessary, to help make sure your child has a comfortable learning environment.
Back-to-School Anxiety Solutions
Ultimately, the best solution to help with your child or young loved one’s back-to-school anxiety the simply to make sure they know full well that they are not alone through this, that they will have both the space to find their resilience and confidence on their own as well as a loving, empathetic support system which understands and truly empathizes with the fears they are going through – without worry that said support might be taken too far.
As the school year begins, that anxiousness will most likely fade for kids – but the confidence and security of knowing they have real, genuine support and the ability to get through their struggles will not.
Let Intent Clinical Help
If your child is having trouble adjusting to going back to school or having any other mental health issues during the school year, let us help support! Please fill out the contact form or call us at 617-910-3940 to get started.
