Heading back into the classroom post pandemic presents a lot of challenges for children, but there are things parents can do to help ease the way for their young students.
They may be excited about it, but heading back into the classroom presents a lot of challenges for children, and parents have a fine-line to walk, exploring their kids’ fears without burdening them with extra worries.
“Taking the temperature of seeing where they’re at and how they’re feeling and not projecting, maybe our own fears or concerns about how it’s going to go onto them,” said Heather Bernstein, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute of the San Francisco Bay Area.
She told KCBS Radio that parents should listen to their child and validate any fears they might have, but then offer structure.
“Help the child get acclimated by building a comfortable routine so that they get used to being back in the routine, especially returning to school, returning to sports or returning to seeing grandparents,” Bernstein said.
She noted that it’s a good time to stage a strategizing session with kids, and ask them questions to help them prepare.
“What are you going to do if things don’t go the way you planned?” Bernstein said, giving an example of a question parents can pose. “There’s a lot of mental preparation that you can help your kids do. Then, [arm] them with coping strategies for when they have a hard time, [so] they feel like they’ve got strategies for even when things feel strange, because we know that at times it will.”
Then, if they do have a setback at school, don’t make a it into a big deal. The child psychologist said parents should talk about what would make it go better next time, then move on.
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