Returning to school creates a mix of emotions for kids. They might look forward to seeing their friends or joining extracurricular clubs again. They also could feel anxious about the more challenging class materials or starting over at a new school. If you have kids who are overachievers, they may need extra support to avoid burnout and overcommitment.
Overachieving kids want to do well every school year, which can heighten their stress levels. Here, we're sharing some back-to-school stress-relief tips to help conquer their anxiety together. Whether they want to decorate their school supplies, journal together, or plan a first-day celebration, you’ll teach them constructive ways to manage their mental health.
Try these stress-relief strategies to help your child live up to their potential without pushing too hard.
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Initiate a Conversation
Parents mean well when they tell their children not to worry. It’s the adult way of reassuring someone with less life experience, but it can also teach your kids to stuff their anxieties away. If you are an overachiever too, you know how ineffective the phrase “Don’t worry” can be when you have a lot on your plate.
Starting a conversation and addressing your child’s stress head-on is much healthier. Let them vent about whatever’s on their mind. Active listeners use other tools such as emotional responsiveness, which means monitoring your feelings while putting your child’s well-being first. Let them know it’s OK to feel nervous and that you’ll help them every step of the way.
Create a Homework Plan
Intense workloads are often the primary stressor for students beginning a new school year. Students who set high expectations for themselves can often struggle when it comes to prioritizing. Help lighten their load by creating a weekly homework schedule.
Help your child map out all extracurriculars on a calendar and highlight all of the open time slots to reserve for homework. This will show them that they will have time to complete everything, as long as they stick to the schedule.
Don’t forget the necessity of wiggle room. Leaving space for playtime is just as important, as taking breaks is known to boost productivity and relieve stress. Thirty minutes of outdoor play before homework can give your children the energy and motivation to accomplish everything else.
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Schedule Playdates
To further emphasize the importance of taking breaks, make playdates a regular part of your child’s schedule. They can be as simple as meeting up with another family at the park a couple of times each month.
Social activity is an important part of childhood development. Overachieving kids, however, can sometimes skip social activities to focus on schoolwork. Although we all want our children to prioritize their education, we don’t want them to miss out on formative friendships and fun when they're young.
Personalize Their School Supplies
Shopping for school supplies is a routine part of the back-to-school season, but it can often be stressful. Back-to-school shopping signals the end of summer, and it can trigger anxiety for many children.
Though it is a necessary evil, you can try to make it entertaining. Let your kids pick out fun notebooks, backpacks, and any other supplies they might like. You can even buy stickers to let them decorate their folders and notebooks. As long as they have functional supplies, there’s no harm in letting them have a little fun with them.
Start Stress-Relieving Habits at Home
It’s never too early to start stress-relieving habits as a family. Get two journals and ask your child to write about their worries with you for 15 minutes every day. Putting their anxieties on paper is an excellent way to reduce their overall stress while bonding with you.
You can also go on an evening walk to discuss whatever’s on your child’s mind. Wind down with a relaxing bedtime routine that will work with your school year schedule. As long as your kid feels more settled after the activity, any stress-relieving habits you try will make their school year even more enjoyable.
Plan a Celebratory Activity
Ask your child how they’d like to celebrate after they finish their first day of school. They might want to go out for ice cream cones or download the latest video game on their wish list. It’s an easy way to make them look forward to the new school year, especially if they get to choose how you commemorate the day.
Build an Anxiety Wall
Sometimes it’s hard to get rid of anxieties because they feel ever-present. Ask your child to write their biggest school-related worries and put them on a corkboard.
As the school year progresses, you can talk about how they overcame one of their worries and take them off the wall. It’s also an excellent opportunity to record their proudest moments. Put those on new sticky notes and let them pile up so your child can see evidence that they’re rocking their school year.
