IT'S GOING TO BE OKAY!

Children experience anxiety just like adults do. Here’s how you can help to steady their back-to-school nerves

- LINDSAY DE FREITAS

NEW pencil cases full of perfectly sharpened pencils, shiny new books and the prospect of seeing their schoolmates – it’s all quite exciting. But heading back to school in the middle of a deadly pandemic can also be a scary experience for our kids.

There’s anxiety in the air as children ready themselves to head back to their classrooms, says Mark Fraser-Grant, a life coach and parenting expert at Star Leadership.

“I think kids feel anxiety in much the way that we adults do. I think they’re wondering: is it really safe to go back? Are other people being safe? Is it safe to touch stuff?”

When kids go out now, they’re often reminded not to get too close to other people, to keep their masks on, use sanitiser and wash their hands, Fraser-Grant says.

This can cause low-level worry, especially if they’ve become accustomed to spending a lot of time at home, he adds.

“Many kids are really used to being in the safe cocoon of their homes right now, and the prospect of being away from their family can be a source of anxiety,” he says.

“Children may start catastrophising and focusing on the worst [possible] outcomes,” says Cape Town educational psychologist Dr Sharon Aitken.

This “anticipatory anxiety”, explains Glenvista-based counselling psychologist Tamara Sosa, is when worry or concern before an event builds up in the mind of the child, bringing panic in anticipation of a perceived threat.

“They can become locked in this type of thinking and then their anxiety increases, creating a vicious cycle of negative anticipation and increasing anxiety.”