Back-to-School Anxiety: How Families Can Prepare

Key takeaways

• Is Back to School Anxiety Normal?

• Transitioning the Family From Summer to School

• Minimizing Back-to-School Dread

• 5 Tips to Help Transition Back to School

Is Back to School Anxiety Normal?

Settling back into a normal school routine can trigger anxiety for both parents and their children. Whether your kids are preparing for kindergarten or beginning their first fall semester at college, their transition from summer vacation to hour-long classes takes time to adjust, no matter what age they are.

Though each school year promises new adventures of making friends and learning complex subjects, your child may start to feel anxious about the unknown journey ahead, and you, yourself, may also feel stressed or worried about whether your kids will feel comfortable and confident in their new surroundings.

What is Anxiety? Anxiety is a normal human response to changes in our environment and routine: “ comes and goes, and our body’s stress response adjusts accordingly, recalibrating itself when it needs to, in order to get back to a functional way of interacting with the world” ( Psychology Today ). Anxiety becomes a serious mental health issue when its excessive and lingers for longer periods of time, affecting our ability to cope and respond to situations. For example, your child may start to feel anxious about making friends at a new school or keeping pace with the rest of his or her classmates. And even after receiving reassurance from you, your child may still feel fearful and begin displaying certain excessive behaviors.

Transitioning the Family From Summer to School

When school lets out for the summer, kids and parents alike tend to enter a stage of bliss. Home becomes a little sweeter, the weight from academics is lifted, and the only worry in the world is how to pack so much fun into so little time, right? When school lets out for the summer, kids and parents alike tend to enter a stage of bliss. Home becomes a little sweeter, the weight from academics is lifted, and the only worry in the world is how to pack so much fun into so little time, right?

Something starts to happen around the 4th of July. An anxiety starts to creep in as the realization summer is already halfway over. By the time the state fair hits, the whole family can feel the school season looming.

No matter how many times the family makes the leap between school and breaks, successfully transitioning the family’s norm is a HUGE feat. Things we hear about most in our office range from the child or parent’s feelings of anxiety or worry, to the entire family’s reactivity towards each other. Simply purchasing school supplies off a prescribed list can feel like you’re going into battle.

Minimizing Back-to-School Dread

For many youngsters and teens, it probably feels like summer vacation just started. But now it’s time to shift gears and start thinking about classes, books, and memorizing locker combinations. While some students are excited about the start of the new school year, others likely have reasonable apprehension. That’s completely expected, and MHCS wants to help with ideas for minimizing back-to-school dread.

Going back to school is often a time of both excitement and stress. Students look forward to seeing friends again but getting back into the school routine can be a struggle. And this is especially true after the distance learning and other regulations due to COVID.

Some students – and adults – may still be adjusting to social norms and interacting with others. Going through this process is different for everyone. Kids have gotten used to not being able to see friends or sit in the classroom. The pandemic uncertainty has caused a host of anxiety, even for kids.

5 Tips to Help Transition Back to School

When school lets out for the summer, both kids and parents jump for joy. Home becomes a little sweeter, the weight of school assignments is lifted, and the only worry in the world is making sure we take advantage of the sunny weather while it’s here. But come the last weeks of July, the realization that fall is just around the corner sets in.

No matter how many times we successfully make the transition from school to summer break and back again, any major transition always seem like a huge feat. After hearing years and years of client worries, we decided to create a guide to beat the “back-to-school blues.”

It generally takes 1-2 weeks to create a routine or habit. This means we need to give ourselves and our kids time to adjust before it feels “normal” to be back in school. You can accelerate the transition by starting the school-time sleep routine 1-2 weeks before school starts, allowing both the children’s and parent’s bodies to adjust.

When to reach out

If symptoms are affecting relationships, work, school, sleep, or daily routines, professional support can help you sort through what is happening and choose a realistic next step.

MHCS provides therapy and mental health support for individuals, couples, families, teens, and adults.