Back To School: How To Deal With Impending Doom

Meta: Fears of the looming school year and how to deal with them.

Going back to school, varsity, kindergarten or college can be a daunting thought, especially if your child’s version of summer was sleep, Netflix and endless pajama days. While the carefree days are over, there are some beneficial steps that you can take as a parent to make this time less of a nightmare for your children.
Fears Associated With The New School Year
In the same way that adults get frightened before moving to a new city, starting a new job or re-entering the dating scene, children too experience some trepidation before the new school year. Some worrying thoughts may include, whether or not they will achieve good grades, will they make more or new friends, will they make the team for sports or will they be ‘good’ at school in general, just to name a few of the ideas that could be possibly swirling around in your child’s head.

 Going back to school, varsity, kindergarten or college can be a daunting thought, especially if your child’s version of summer was sleep, Netflix and endless pajama days. While the carefree days are over, there are some beneficial steps that you can take as a parent to make this time less of a nightmare for your children.

Fears Associated With The New School Year

In the same way that adults get frightened before moving to a new city, starting a new job or re-entering the dating scene, children too experience some trepidation before the new school year. Some worrying thoughts may include, whether or not they will achieve good grades, will they make more or new friends, will they make the team for sports or will they be ‘good’ at school in general, just to name a few of the ideas that could be possibly swirling around in your child’s head.

All of these should not be merely disregarded and swept aside, but rather dealt with in a positive way. Firstly let them come to you and speak about the troubles they are currently dealing with. Make sure not to make sweeping statements such as “Oh please, you’ll make lots of friends.” Rather say something more constructive like “I know going to a new school is scary, but why don’t you try joining an extramural activity to meet new people?”
Second make sure to discuss possible solutions to their fear, for example, if friends have been an issue why not suggest possible activities she could become involved in to boost her levels of involvement and meet people that way. If grades are the issue, why not discuss a plan of action for homework or extra tuition to help her achieve her goals.
Thirdly, encourage your child to initiate these plans when the school year starts or before if possible, by them being in charge of the plan they are more likely to want to stick to it due to the fact that they own the plan. To start before is possible, for example, if academic performance is an obstacle, why not encourage reading and going over or practicing various problems from last year’s units. Reading of any kind will also boost your child’s vocabulary which is essential for English and it has been found that those who read more in their formative years are more likely to have a higher intelligence profile in their later stages of life than those who barely read.
Finally, be supportive; try your best to let your child know that you are there for them during this time. Whether you drop them off on the first day of school, or walk them to their class – my dad always did that, or have a special day with them just before the start of the school year where you just bond. No mentioning school, expectations, all the stationary that must be purchased or the fact that new shoes are needed, have some ice cream and talk about the new Spiderman movie or how much you both love tennis.
Remember to have fun during this last stretch before the upcoming school year, for more on holidays and all you need to know about them, check out SirHoliday.com now.



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