Coping With Back To School Blues

The beginning of the school year can be overwhelming for many students and their families. If your child is feeling a little anxious or upset about returning to school, here are some great tips from Oaks International School to help them cope with the back to school blues…

If your child has been enjoying late nights over the summer holidays, it may take some time to adjust back to the early morning school routine. To make the mornings less of a stressful rush, it is a good idea to encourage earlier bed times and prepare their school uniform and equipment a few days before school starts.

Many children have had so much fun over the summer that they feel sad about their holidays coming to an end. To combat the back to school blues it is important to try and keep up some of those fun activities when they return to school. When kids see that school doesn’t necessarily mean giving up on fun, they’re less likely to have negative feelings about it.

To get your child excited about their return to school and to encourage a positive attitude towards learning, you could set up a special desk space at home. If this isn’t practical how about taking them out and treating them to a new stationary collection?

A great way to help a child, who may be suffering from separation anxiety, is to allow them to take a small object in their school bag that acts as a comforter, such as a toy or family photo. You could also surprise your child with a secret note in their lunch box with words of encouragement.

Help your child to understand that their feelings towards returning to school are normal and many of their classmates are likely to be feeling the same way. Explain that it is OK to feel anxious and let them know that you are always there to talk to. Discuss your own memories of your first day of school and speak about how you felt at first, but how that turned into something positive.