As kids head back to school, many parents may be feeling anxiety or sadness -- but some may be feeling relief. And on top of that, they may feel guilty for feeling relieved.
KMOX's Megan Lynch talked to licensed professional counselor Michelle Steeg about the complex feelings parents might be having.
"It's absolutely okay. But it's a mixed bag for each family," Steeg said. "I think there's a bunch of there's things that are set up societally for us to make us feel like we should be feeling guilty."
She said lots of parents -- mothers in particular -- feel like they should be more upset or excited for their kids that they're going offinto the world. But she said mothers often focus on things they "should" do, but that they should stop focusing on the "shoulds" so much.
"I would encourage people, women in particular, to try maybe scale that. So for example, I experience a lot of mom guilt in terms of the fact that I work outside the home, and I feel a tremendous amount of guilt about that at times," she said. "But at the same time when I hear myself talking like that, like, 'I feel so guilty, I should be home,' I don't really believe that. There's a huge piece of me that doesn't even buy into that. So why am I saying it?"
Hear more advice from Michelle Steeg on how to manage complicated feelings about your kids going back to school:
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