HOW TO HELP WHEN YOUR CHILD IS ANXIOUS ABOUT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL?  

Written by Feba Maryann 

While kids often find it exciting to go to school, be with friends and enjoy, sometimes there might a feeling of reluctance based on the following reasons: 

Covid Related Concerns 

After spending about two years in the pandemic, it might be threatening for kids to go back to school. They might be worried about wearing masks, vaccination, friends’ and teachers’ response. Online classes are highly convenient for kids as the pressure about tests and exams is reduced. In such a scenario, there is a doubt about how to familiarise with the conventional methods of offline classes and exams after such a long time. 

Fear of Bullying:  

No matter how much we condemn it, bullying is still prevalent in some places. Some kids with notorious mindsets bully others without realising how it can impact them. This bullying causes embarrassment, fear of mockery and judgement that prevents kids from going back to school. Every child who faces that is not vocal about this to his guardians. They stress about it and feel anxiety about their parents’ reactions to it.  

Concerns Related to Friends: 

Sometimes kids have a dispute with their friends and stop talking to them. Later they might feel guilty about it and fear about their friend’s response. They worry that their friend might join someone else’s company and they will be left alone to feel lonely. This hesitation about change in friend’s behaviour causes children to skip school.  

Marks And Performances: 

Sometimes kids do not get desired results in academics or other fields even after preparing a lot. This causes stress and anxiety about future performances and kids do not enjoy any activities rather they feel competitive with their class fellows. This mindset destroys the actual motive of competitions and kids focus more on results than learning.  

Behaviour Of Teachers: 

Every teacher should be respected for their efforts and contribution towards the education of children. However, sometimes teachers get too strict with their students that can impact them negatively. Any harsh punishment, strong remarks and scolding from a teacher can reduce the self-confidence of students. Also, if it is done in front of other students, it adds a fear of mockery and embarrassment to it. Apart from this, sexual harassment in school is also a major issue. Due to these reasons, the child might not really wish to go back to school and face the same teacher. 

These are just a few reasons as this topic is highly subjective. Each child might have a different problem but the real concern is about solving that so that they can confidently go back to school and learn wholeheartedly.  

Role Of Parents to Resolve These Issues

  • All the necessary precautions should be taken by the parents and school to avoid any COVID related hesitation to go back to school. 
  • Children should be taught to voice out any kind of bullying and ragging and immediately inform their teachers and parents about the same without any hesitation. Also, when a child informs about that, parents should immediately console him/her and take strict action.  
  • Children should be taught that issues can be resolved by maturely talking and compromising. If they get into a fight, they should try to understand the issue and solve it. If necessary, parents should involve themselves to resolve the issue. 
  • Parents often do not realise, but pressuring kids to get high scores and the first rank puts a burden on them. They should be taught to focus more on learning and practical implementation than getting high scores. If a child is not interested in studies and wants to pursue something else, parents should motivate and support him/her in the best possible ways. 
  • If a kid denies going to school because of a certain teacher’s strict behaviour, he/she should be made to understand that teachers always do that for students’ benefit only. However, if the situation is more serious, then the teacher must be confronted for that. 
  • Apart from these, if there is some other reason, then parents should gently talk to their kids and try to understand their feelings and perspective.