Any time that a person experiences a big transition, it can impact their mental health. For children and adolescents, the transition between summer break and the start of the new school year can be one of these challenging times. At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health in Charleston, West Virginia, we treat adolescents with mental health concerns. We work with the families we serve to develop strategies for making the return to school as smooth as possible.
Before School Starts
The best time to help your children start to manage the changes from summer to fall is before the school year starts. Parents can set the tone and make the process less scary by:
- Communicating – Children may need an invitation to talk about how they are feeling in regards to going back to school. Validate their feelings and try to understand where they are coming from. Reassure them that a lot of people feel anxious when things are changing in their lives. Some questions students often have about school include:
- What will school be like this year?
- Will my classes be difficult?
- Am I ready?
- What will my teacher be like?
- Who will be in my class?
- Will I have friends?
- Creating routines – Hopefully, you were able to maintain a regular sleep, meal, and activity schedule over the summer. But even if you weren’t as successful with this as you might have liked, there’s no time like the present to start adding more structure. Having a set routine for the things outside of school can make it easier to add school to the schedule.
- Preparing students – If possible, meet with teachers and walk around the school to find classrooms and where your child will eat lunch. It may also be helpful to practice your child’s school morning routines a couple of times, so that they can be ready to walk out the door on time. Selecting clothes and shoes the night before may also make the morning easier for you and your child.
- Encouraging social interactions – One thing that can increase anxiety around returning to school is worrying about not knowing anyone. Getting your child together with old friends or meeting new ones can ease their worry and help them get excited about their first day.
Screens and Your Child’s Mental Health
As children get older, it becomes more and more common for them to have social media accounts and access to a wider range of information. They may be required to utilize computers and the internet in order to complete their school work. Parents can help their children to develop healthy attitudes about the online world by:
- Limiting how much time the young person is spending online.
- Reminding them that what their acquaintances post is usually not the full picture. It’s often a highlight reel of only the things that person wants to share with the rest of the world.
- Encouraging them to come to you with any concerns about content they encounter:
- Anyone trying to meet up with them in real life whom they only know online
- Bullying
- Peers expressing suicidal thoughts
- Anything that makes them feel bad about themselves
- Supporting them in having in-person interactions, rather than only virtual connections.
- Teaching them to be critical thinkers who question the things they see online.
- Putting filters in place that make it less likely that your child will encounter:
- Graphic violence
- Pornography
- “Challenges” that can put them in danger
- Self-harm videos
- Content that encourages body image issues and unhealthy attitudes about food
Once School Starts
As your child completes their first days and weeks of the new school year, be mindful of signs that they could be struggling with their mental health or problems at school:
- Changes in appetite or hygiene
- Difficulty sleeping at night or daytime fatigue
- Aches and pains – stomach problems, nausea, headaches, etc.
- Being jittery or constantly moving
- Poor academic performance or not wanting to go to school
- Isolating themselves from friends, seeming lonely
- Mental changes
- Irritability
- Sadness, hopelessness, seeming defeated
- Anxiety
- Forming nervous habits
- Difficulty communicating
- Trouble focusing
At Highland Hospital, we know that most people who develop mental health disorders show the first signs in adolescence. We want to help parents to recognize the signs right away to facilitate immediate treatment for a faster and easier recovery.
