CLEVELAND — While the thought of getting the kids out of the house and back in school is a welcome one for many, the back-to-school routine can be a lot! In this episode of Mom Squad, we are here with expert advice to try and make it all a little easier....and we start with trying to ease your kids’ back to school anxiety.
A survey done by the "On Our Sleeves Movement" for children's mental health found that 71% of parents say something made the previous school year challenging for their kids.
The top few reasons: Safety concerns (37%), academic challenges (26%) and bullying (24%).
But how do you get your kids to open up and tell you what's happening or what they are worried about? Associate clinical director Dr. Whitney Raglin Bignall shares her best advice.
“So having conversations about what they're feeling, what they're expecting what they might be nervous or worried about,” says Bignall. “And also, if last year didn't go so well, talking about what maybe made it not go so well. And making them, you know, you can talk and then come up with solutions together. But the key is starting to talk about it."
She says the key is to ask the questions in a way that would get better answers.
“If we just asked how school today, I find that we do just get like those 'fines,' 'good.' But we want to do is ask them a more specific question where they might have to give more detail. So, something like, 'What was your favorite part of the day?' Or, 'tell me about something that was hard, and you got through it?' So, the goal is to ask them a question where you can't just give it one answer,” says Bignall.
If your child is showing signs of anxiety when it's test time or when the homework piles up, Dr. Bignall says it's important to not only talk to them about it, but also involve the teachers.
Warn their teacher that these feelings are present and see if the three of you can come up with a plan. If your child's anxiety comes from social situations, they aren't alone.
“Sometimes, especially now, kids have had difficulty figuring out how to make connections, how to make good ones. And so having to make friends, especially if they're more nervous or shy, how do you do that? And so, thinking about how to get them those skills, and those opportunities to practice making new friends can be really, important,” says Bignall.
In the entire episode, the Mom Squad discusses how to ease anxiety for kids of all ages and some safety concerns they may have. You can catch the entire episode on WKYC Plus, our WKYC YouTube channel or in the media player below.
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