Suggestions for children experiencing "back-to-school anxiety" after the holidays
Parents are advised to be understanding and communicate openly with children against the anxiety that may arise in children who have just started school and will return to school after the holidays. Shortly before the start of the new academic year, many children and parents are excitedly preparing to return to school.
Some of the little ones who step into school for the first time as part of the adaptation training on September 2 and some of the students who will return to school on September 9 after the summer vacation may experience anxiety and stress. Experts want parents to be understanding against the anxiety and stress that may occur in children who have just started school and will return to school after the holidays.
President of Üsküdar University and Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, on the other hand, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that some children who have just started school have school phobia and that these children do not want to leave their mothers on their way to school.
"If the child cannot adapt to school within 2 weeks, expert help is required"
Stating that the children of anxious mothers generally behave in this way in the studies, Tarhan expressed that "There are perfectionist mothers. When children of controlling mothers first start school, children feel as if they are on an alien planet because they feel that way. Children do not want to leave and make their mother waiting at the door."
Stating that the mother should stay with the child at the beginning, if necessary, Tarhan said that "If parents make children feel that this is their responsibility, they resist at first, but after a while they accept. Usually, if it does not comply within two weeks, then expert help is required.”
Underlining that the mother should be calm in such situations, Tarhan expressed that "Mothers should say goodbye to their children and leave, if they leave the child and run away quietly, the child cannot adapt to school."
Regarding children who are reluctant to return to school after the holidays, Tarhan stated that "Children may go to school reluctantly when there is a holiday and there is entertainment. At the moment, modernism is misleading children. They made children addicted to dopamine. And the biggest impact is computers. Children are children who seek pleasure, who only say, 'What I like is good, what I do not like is bad,' and they take it easy, and they want to get it without effort."
"Parents should be determined without pressure, threats and intimidation"
Emphasizing that dopamine should be produced from other ordinary things in the brain, Tarhan stated that "Thinking about school success and future success also produces dopamine. Parents need to teach their children to produce dopamine in the medium and long term. This can be taught to the brain.”
Prof. Tarhan gave the following advice to parents against the anxiety that may arise in children who have just started school and will return to school after the holidays:
"Parents should be determined and caress the child's head without pressure, threats and intimidation. Being disciplined is like snowfall: it snows when it falls slowly and continuously. If you suddenly break out like a storm and thunder, the child will obey with fear but breaks the rule at the first opportunity, as that child obeys without believing. Children should be told about the reasons why they need to go to school. It is important for parents to use a common language. If they use different language, the child chooses the one they like."