How To Help Your Child With First Day Anxiety
Summer vacation is coming to a close. All the trips, fun
activities, and camps are soon to be wonderful memories.
Hopefully, your child or children had a great period of down
time and are refreshed and ready for a new and eventful school
year.
I know many parents are quite ready for the new and eventful
school year. As much as we love our children, they can be
exhausting for some parents. Sometimes the down time the summer
vacation offers breeds some unexpected and even undesirable
behaviors. Whatever the case, school starting brings a pleasant
reprieve for many parents.
Happy Day, The first day of school is just around the corner.
What do we do next as responsible parents? Run to the store to
buy all the necessities to have a successful student. The
clothes, tools of the trade, everything that could possible be
necessary. We help them pack that bag and send them on their
way. One major thing many parents tend to forget for whatever
reason.
You may have prepared your little one with all the material
items he or she may need, but how about the head? Yes, the head
and I don't mean what's on top. I mean the inside. Their
beautiful head may very well be filled with a load of anxiety.
For some children this anxiety can be very real and
overwhelming. For some, it's healthy. For some children however,
the anxiety of the beginning of school can be terrifying. Many
different situations that may seem small to adults can be
extremely difficult for some children.
For the sake of empathy, I'll give two examples. First, the
simple act of getting on a school bus and finding a place to sit
can be terrifying. If your child is not the most popular or even
close, he or she may not know many of the other students on that
bus.
The act of having to walk down that isle on the bus while
everyone watches and then try to find a seat to share can be
sickening for some children. Of course, this happens first thing
in your child's day so this could have an impact on the rest of
the day.
OK, maybe not the rest of the day. Maybe just until lunch time.
This is the second example I promised you. For some children,
the act of trying to get place to sit while eating lunch can be
very difficult as well. Try to imagine having to walk into a
room and find a place to sit when you are not a confident child.
It's easy if when you walk into the room and the others start
yelling your name but that doesn't happen very often for the
average child, let alone the quite child that may not have many
friends.
Based on my own experience, these are very real, uncomfortable
situations for some children that should not be minimized.
What can you do for your child? How to help your child with that
first day anxiety? I'll tell you. Here are some proven ideas.
Talk to your child about these scenarios. Make sure your child
knows he or she is not alone when it comes to understanding how
difficult these situations are. Try to instill a sense of
control which will ease the sense of anxiety. It won't get rid
of the problem, but a sense of control empowers people including
children.
Give your child real control over the situation by sharing a few
concrete suggestions to use that he/she is comfortable with.
Suggestions that your child feels they contributed. Make sure
your child has much of the say and is comfortable with the
solutions that will be used.
The first day may be exciting for some. Remember, it may not be
so exciting for others. Instead it can be a head filled with
anxiety based on lack of control.
Lets wish for the best for all our children.