Ahhh…..it’s that time again! Parents love it. Kids both love and hate it. Whether you like it or not, going back to school is a time filled with excitement and trepidation. Preparing for it is essential, no matter how resilient you believe your child is, or is going to be. Starting back to school elicits a myriad of feelings of the unknown: academic expectations, peer pressures, bullies, mean girls, popularity contests, appearance issues, etc. Preparing for it with your child is important in making a good transition and helping to encourage success for the new year. Here are some ideas to help support:
· Be a good listener! Allow your child to share their thoughts on what they are excited/worried about for the upcoming year without interruption. The more you allow your teenager to have the space to share, the more information you’re going to have to help them. You might even be surprised by what they say!
· Don’t assume. What they were worried about last year may have changed, or new worries developed over the summer that you were unaware of.
· Encourage your child to think ahead of what the challenges might be. This will help them to prepare a plan of action and feel less overwhelmed.
· Timing. Wait for a good time to broach the subject. Best time to deal with tough feelings is when you’re feeling the most connected and the subject has already been brought up in some way.
· Be positive and confident in their abilities, without minimizing their feelings. If you are negative or worried, it may create another concern for your child…..you!
· Encourage them in ways that helped before. Think of situations where they handled themselves well or were confident. When kids are worried, they often feel helpless or hopeless that the situation will change, and it’s more difficult for them to access memories of those moments.
· Involve others to help. If you might not be the best person to help support your child, find someone who is. Better that you admit the limitations, than to possibly create more issues to be dealt with.
Best of luck for a successful academic and personal school year. Acknowledge how hard your child is working, as being an adolescent/teenager is a tough job that many of us NEVER want to do again.
