Back-to-School Tip #3: Mental Health

Kids will be head­ed back to school again before you know it and along with sched­ul­ing phys­i­cals, eye exams, and vac­cines, it’s impor­tant to think about your children’s men­tal health too. Coor­di­na­tor of Behav­ioral Health, Nik­ki Shields, shares the fol­low­ing back-to-school tips with par­ents and caregivers:

• Talk with your kids! And by that I mean, lis­ten to your kids. As par­ents and care­givers, some­times we do too much talk­ing and what our kids real­ly need is for us to lis­ten to what they have to say. I know we are just brim­ming with wis­dom that we want to share with them but when is the last time that some­one telling you what to do moti­vat­ed or inspired you? With school-age chil­dren, one of the best ways to get them talk­ing (and think­ing!) is to ask them open-end­ed ques­tions and then give them the floor. Here are some sam­ple ques­tions to get the con­ver­sa­tion started:
  • School starts again soon, what do you miss most about last school year?
  • What are you most excit­ed about in the new school year?
  • What are you least excit­ed about?
  • What is some­thing you wish you could change about school?
  • What is some­thing that was dif­fi­cult for you last year and how did you get through it?
  • What is some­thing you wish was eas­i­er for you?
  • Tell me about a time you were ner­vous at school. What hap­pened? How did you man­age your worry?
  • Who at your school makes you feel safe or understood?
  • What is a goal you have for your­self this school year?
  • How can I (or oth­er sup­port­ive adults) help you to have a good school year?

• Anx­i­ety is nor­mal and kids (adults too!) need to feel anx­ious some­times. Anx­i­ety moti­vates and pro­tects us and it’s impor­tant that both kids and par­ents real­ize that some­times we need to feel wor­ried. Anx­i­ety is the feel­ing that push­es us to study for a test or prac­tice a speech. Anx­i­ety helps us to avoid or stay safe in dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tions. When kids learn that anx­i­ety isn’t always a bad thing, often­times they feel less anx­ious even when they are ner­vous about some­thing because they under­stand that their brain is try­ing to help them.
• Even if your child is show­ing more anx­i­ety than is nec­es­sary and help­ful, give it time. New rou­tines and sched­ules take a while to get used to and often, a lit­tle more time to adjust to recent changes is all that is need­ed. If your child’s anx­i­ety is off the charts and cre­at­ing prob­lems at home and school, reach out to your pedi­a­tri­cian, a coun­selor, or oth­er health­care provider to find out about avail­able options to help your child.

For more men­tal health tips and arti­cles, check out The Behav­ioral Health Blog with Nik­ki Shields or call the Quin­cy Med­ical Group Behav­ioral Health Depart­ment at 217−222−6550, ext 3418 for infor­ma­tion about our pro­grams and services.