7 August 2023
WICHITA Kan. (KSNW) — USD 259 starts school on August 15, and mental health experts say it’s not uncommon for students to feel anxiety during this time.
“Back to school time can absolutely be a challenge for kids of all ages,” Eric Litwiller, Mental Health Association of South Central Kansas, said. “I mean, we all feel anxiety at some level, and certainly, by the time kids get to school age, anxiety is not at all a foreign concept to them.”
Litwiller says the new school year presents different changes, such as a new grade, new classes, new curriculum, or new teachers.
“It’s a new grade, things are going to be harder now. I have to be smarter, and they don’t necessarily feel smarter, and they don’t think about the fact that teachers are going to get you there,” Litwiller said. “So just that in and of itself can be a big issue.”
Litwiller says one of the most helpful things parents can do is have an open conversation with them, helping them figure out where the anxiety is coming from.
“Asking these open-ended questions kind of exploratory questions that really make the kid think about why they’re feeling that way,” Litwiller said. “And there’s a fine line there because it’s great to kind of offer them challenge questions, but they don’t want to cross the line into making it sound like they’re diminishing the reasoning behind it. We’re talking about the concerns of a 7-year-old kid, and it’s really easy for adults to kind of minimize that concern, diminish that concern. And just we think, oh, come on, that’s not a thing. But you know what, to a 7 year old, that is absolutely a thing.”
He says routine is a big thing for students, communicating when and how their schedule will change. He says practicing that can also be beneficial.
“At least getting back into kind of the waking up and going to bed schedule, I think is great for younger kids,” Litwiller said. “You know, next Tuesday, you’re going to have to start going to bed at nine o’clock, or next Tuesday, we have to start waking you up at 7:30, so let’s start doing that now and getting used to it.”
Different age groups experience different challenges, but he says kids of all ages can experience mental health issues.
Litwiller suggests getting your child a mental health checkup just as you would a physical.
“Get them in to talk to a therapist one hour, maybe a couple of weeks before school just like their annual physical, and just kind of get that annual mental health checkup,” Litwiller said. “If the kid is fine and is coping well with whatever anxiety they might be feeling, then you as a parent know that, and the kid knows that too. But at the same time, if a therapist is kind of able to sense that maybe they’re not coping as well as we would like them to, then again, you’re kind of catching that issue early.”
Because there is a shortage of clinicians, he suggests calling as soon as possible and consider getting on a cancellation list.
Litwiller also suggests paying attention to your child’s patterns.
“Parents know better than anybody else what is quote unquote, normal for their child,” Litwiller said. “And so if that child is behaving in a dramatically different way than they normally do, that’s a really good sign that there was a problem that maybe they’re struggling to cope with the anxiety of going back to school or the anxiety of anything else for that matter.”