As a mom myself, I have experienced my child’s anxiety and fear when she needs to go back to school after a long holiday. However, I also discovered from other parents that my child is not alone as other kids are also showing the same reaction. Thus, when I received an email on the Six Tools to Relieve Your Child’s “Back-to-School-itis”, I just had to share it with you all. This article is posted with the permission of the original writer, Charlotte Reznick PhD.
For some kids, going back to school at the end of summer can be traumatic. Anticipating a new teacher, classmates, grade, or school can trigger fear, anxiety, and depression–not to mention very real physical symptoms such as stomachaches, headaches, and insomnia.
Fortunately, your child has a whole toolbox to draw from–in her own imagination. Here are six imagination tools parents can use with young children to relieve “back-to-school-itis.”
Teach her to balloon breathe. With her hands around her navel, have her breathe slowly and deeply into her lower belly so it presses into her hands like an inflating balloon. The Balloon Breath has dramatic calming effects and facilitates a waking state of focused concentration and receptivity to positive suggestions. This one tool makes all the other ones easier.
Visit his special place. This is a safe private place within your child’s inner world where he can work out problems or take a mini-vacation from stress and worry. He can invite a wise Animal Friend into his special place to talk to and help him, or he can even dig for a treasure box there that contains the antidote to his fear.
Draw the fear. Putting an image on paper: (1) makes her fear of separation realer and less frightening than keeping it inside, and (2) makes her fear less likely to grow because there is a concrete picture to work with. Once she has a picture, she can talk to it, find out why it’s trying to scare her, strike a bargain with it, surround it with a soothing color bubble, and so on.
Talk to his symptom. When a child suffers from a worry headache or stomachache, these three questions can help eliminate the pain. Have him do deep balloon breathing (diaphragmatic breathing), then ask: (1) What color is it? (2) What shape is it? (3) How heavy is it? After more breaths, ask him again. Continue to breathe and question in rounds. His pain will likely change or disappear. If it doesn’t completely go away, ask the ache what it wants him to know, do, or understand to release any more bits of pain.
Picture the future. Artwork is also an effective starting point when you’re working with clear end-goals, like getting a good night’s sleep or reducing a fear. Have your child draw two drawings–how things are now and how she’d like them to be. Hang the picture in her bedroom; this is a great reminder of her desired goal and the first step toward getting there.
Encourage drama. For kids whose nature tends toward drama, acting out their worries and troubles is a wonderful way to release them. Let them play it out–with puppets, with their bodies, with anything their imagination suggests. It’s amazing what creative solutions come up when given free reign.
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Charlotte Reznick is a child educational psychologist, an associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, and author of a new book, The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success (Perigee, 2009, $14.95).
www.ImageryForKids.com
tucked into spheres that pop open when they’re rolled onto a game card, where they gather points. My 9 year old has started a collection of Bakugan and so far, currently has 4 units of Bakugan balls and a couple of Gate and Ability cards. We made it a point to only reward him when he does well for his exams as these toys are certainly not cheap.
The purpose of the game is for players to navigate through 5 different Discovery Worlds, to find lost pets. By choosing the Story Mode, there will be a JumpStart friend which will guide you as you progress and go through each journey in the various worlds. My 5 year old daughter was very excited when she discovered that each time she managed to rescue a pet, it will follow her throughout the game. She also enjoyed playing the matching games such as Matching Ladybugs but her favourite was definitely being able to adopt a pet, where she could feed, groom and play with it.
