Once again it is that time of year, summer is winding down and parents and children are gearing up for a new school year. The back-to-school transition can be very anxiety provoking and stressful. As parents, we often times struggle with helping our children cope with the anxiety and stress that a new school year brings. In addition to the standard tips (establishing a morning and evening routine, keeping extracurricular activities to a minimum, planning “low or no stress” unstructured family or play time, etc.) for assisting your child with adjusting to a back-to school, here are some helpful tips and ideas I found online.  

8 One-minute Anxiety Relief Tools for Kids Big and Small: This is a great list of tips from the Huffington Post. The 8th suggestion about laughing is very important. Helping children take their focus off of the stress trigger is a great way to assist them in redirecting their focus on something else during this stressful transition.

3 Fun Mindfulness Exercises for Kids:  Helping children focus on the present rather than dwelling on what is making them feel stressed or anxious is very important. Here are a few fun exercises to help your child accomplish this.

Children’s Books about Worrying:  Children’s books can be very helping in teaching important life lessons. Here is a great list of children’s books that focus on worry and stress.

10 Relaxation Techniques for Children: Deep breathing, meditation, exercise…this is a great list of simple things you can do before- and after-school to ease your child’s’ transition from home to school or vice versa.

Practice Yoga with Kids to Improve Patience & Increase Confidence: This blog post includes useful information about how yoga can help children as well as resources for helping parents get started.

What tips do you have for helping children cope with the anxiety and stress of transitioning back-to-school?