Coping with Back to School Anxiety
With schools across Johnson County gearing up to start for the fall, not all youth may be bursting with excitement to return or begin their schooling journey. Moving to a new building, class and teacher can all cause some back to school jitters. Knowing how we can best support the youth in our lives with these worries is key to setting them up for success for the new year and for life. PBS Kids provides some wonderful resources for parents and caregivers to be aware of.
Know the Signs
Some worries are to be expected. It’s not easy to walk into a new classroom with a new teacher and start from scratch every single year. Watch for these sneaky symptoms of anxiety as the new school year begins:
- changes in eating habits
- sleep disturbance
- clingy behavior
- meltdowns or tantrums
- nail biting, hair twirling, skin picking
- headaches or stomach pains
- avoiding normal daily activities
- increased irritability
- increased crying
- social isolation
How to Deal with Back-to-School Anxiety
Consistency and routines are always a great place to start ,try some of these strategies to help the child in your life ease into the new school year:
- Attend school (and be early!). While it’s perfectly normal to have worries when starting a new school year, it’s very important to attend school each day. A huge meltdown might have you wondering if you should simply try another day, but avoidance of school will only increase and reinforce the child’s anxiety.
- Get back to basics. It’s very difficult to feel calm, confident and in control when you are starving or exhausted. Anxiety can cause kids to struggle with sleep and eat a little less. This means staying on top of those childhood basics.
- Set an earlier bedtime for the entire family, make sure each day includes plenty of downtime, and provide balanced meals and nutritious snacks with plenty of time to eat. Eating on the run is stressful for kids.
- Allow extra time in the mornings. Anxious children don’t like to be late, nor do they enjoy being rushed. Now that you’ve pushed that bedtime up, the child should be able to wake with plenty of time to eat, get dressed and get ready for the day.
- Create healthy nighttime routines to make the mornings easier. Choosing clothes at night, packing snacks and filling water bottles and packing the backpack and placing it by the door are all time savers for anxious kids.
- Avoid blanket statements. When kids express worries about school, it’s tempting to respond with generic statements such as, “Don’t worry about it!” or “You’ll love it!” These statements rarely provide reassurance for worriers. A better tactic is to address specific worries with the child.
When adults take the time to listen and help children come up with strategies to solve problems, kids feel more confident. We also need to watch our words; kids look to the adults in their lives for clues. If you appear overwhelmed and anxious on the first day of school, the child is likely to follow your lead.
Source: Hurley, Katie, LCSW, 8/25/2016, https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/how-to-cope-with-back-to-school-anxiety
Lexi Ray, Extension Agent, 4-H Youth Development , August 2024