Jeremy Siegel: You're listening to GBH's Morning Edition. Back to school season is in full swing in Massachusetts, with some districts already back in session and others returning to the classroom by the end of next week. It can be an exciting time for students: Buying new school supplies, reuniting with their classmates after summer break, getting back to the regular routine. But it can also be a major point of anxiety for students who have a hard time with the transition back to school for a variety of reasons. Joining us to talk more about this is Dr. Matthew DuBois, president of the Massachusetts School Psychology Association, or MSPA. Good morning, Matthew.
Matthew DuBois: Good morning, Jeremy. Thank you for having me.
Siegel: Thanks for joining us. So for people who might not be familiar, what exactly is back to school anxiety? What are we talking about here, and what are the common points of anxiety for students who are experiencing it?
DuBois: Yeah, thank you for that. So what I want to offer to folks is that it is very, very common for students, and for adults who are also starting back to school this week, to feel what we might call anticipatory anxiety as they're thinking about the school year. What I want to offer as a frame is that transitions for a lot of people will result in a lot of emotions. And so it's this really interesting and important opportunity for us to teach kids about their emotions and how to navigate them successfully. And so as we're thinking about back to school anxiety, back to school worry, that's a really normative experience for kids, particularly when they've had a really, really successful and a really pleasant summer, that the idea of transitioning away from that can feel really challenging. And so what I really encourage parents to do is, we're having conversations with kids right now about going back to school is they're checking in with kids about how they're feeling. And when kids provide us that response, where they might be talking about feeling sad or feeling worried or feeling anxious, it's really, really important that we're not dismissive of those feelings. What can happen when kids are saying, Well, I'm feeling worried about going back to school or I'm feeling sad, is that sometimes as parents, we sort of want our kids to feel better. And so we'll maybe say, Hey, there's nothing to worry about. Don't worry, it's gonna be an awesome school year. But that can feel really invalidating for kids. And so what I really encourage parents to do is that if kids are describing feeling anxious or feeling worried, we explain that it's very normal to feel that way. It totally makes sense to feel that way. And then we open a conversation about what kids might be experiencing. If we sort of close it off, and say, hey, there's nothing to worry about, kids aren't going to talk to us about what they're worried about. If we come from a perspective of, that makes sense that you're feeling that, let's talk about it, that creates an entry point where we can talk a little bit more about what kids might be worried about.
Siegel: What usually, from your experience, are kids in particular worried about when it comes to back to school anxiety?
DuBois: Yeah. So we might think about back to school anxiety as having sort of two things they might be worried about. One might be a generalized worry, right? Just the idea of going back into school, the idea of having that more structured experience might just not feel great for kids. Then other kids are going be very specific about the things that they're worried about, right? And there's a full range there. Kids might be worried about going on a bus. Kids might be worried about who's in their class. Kids might be worried about the lunchroom. Kids might be worried about being in a class without any friends. So there's a lot of very specific things that kids might be worried about. Then other kids, again, might have a more generalized worry of just the idea of school is bringing up intense feelings.
Siegel: Where do you go from there once you know about the specific experiences? I mean, I imagine it changes a lot based on what the anxiety exactly has to do with. But what sort of coping strategies are there for students?
DuBois: Yeah, so what I really encourage is: if kids are describing something very specific that they're worried about, that's what allows you to do a little bit of preplanning, right? So you might walk through that specific worry. And I'll just use, for example, walking into a classroom where a student doesn't know anybody, right? They're completely new. So you may talk through that experience with the child and say, okay, so you walk into the classroom and you don't know anyone. What's the thing you're going to do next? And so using a lot of visualization and having a student sort of imagine themselves in that situation and then think through how would you want to respond in that situation? What might be helpful for you in that situation? Can be really powerful for kids. What can also be helpful as kids are noticing those physiological signs of anxiety — so the heart rate gets faster, when your breath gets faster, when it's harder to think — assertive can tap into those oftentimes talked about anxiety reduction techniques, like taking deep breaths, potentially doing some muscle squeezes and some muscle relaxation. You may practice in advance, when kids find themselves in those situations, how they're going to navigate them successfully.
Siegel: What about teachers? Is back to school anxiety a concern and a reality on the opposite end of the classroom as well?
DuBois: For sure, yeah. And I'll say, so this is a week where teachers are getting back into schools and just to name it, schools — the profession of teaching has always been hard. It's never been harder than over the past several years, right? And so there certainly is a lot of worry that teachers will experience as they're getting back into school. And so what's nice about the opening of school for teachers is that there are a couple of days where it's just teachers, and they're doing a lot of planning, a lot of setting up their classrooms, a lot of meeting with their principals and vice principals. And that planning time is really, really important for helping teachers ease back in. And so we sort of, I do an analogy that the kids, right, kids are sort of jumping right back into the school day. So we might do a day or two, maybe a week in advance, having kids do some of that planning, some of that imagining, some of that thinking about school. So once they jump into that first school day, it won't feel as intense.
Siegel: So if a parent is facing a situation where a kid is experiencing anxiety and is saying, I do not want to go back to school, how do you approach that question of, I don't want to do this?
DuBois: Yeah. So as we talked about, validating that feeling is really, really important. But a really, really helpful thing to teach kids about anxiety, a really important thing for us to know as adults, is the best way to stay anxious about something is to not do it. The very best way to sort of move through that anxiety is to initially do the thing that you're anxious about, but with support, right? And so, frame it for kids. Yes, you're probably going to feel a little bit anxious tomorrow when you go to school. But here are all the supports that are available to you to help navigate that. And in talking with kids over time, the more that you're going to school, the more that you're doing those things that you're feeling anxious about, the better it's going to feel in the long run.
Siegel: Dr. Matthew DuBois is president of the Massachusetts School Psychology Association. Dr. DuBois, thank you so much for your time this morning.
DuBois: Thank you so much for having me.
Siegel: You're listening to GBH News.
Back to school season is in full swing in Massachusetts. It can be an exciting time for students: Buying new school supplies, reuniting with their classmates after summer break, getting back to the regular routine. But it can also be a major point of anxiety for students who have a hard time with the transition.
“It is very, very common for students, and for adults who are also starting back to school this week, to feel what we might call anticipatory anxiety as they're thinking about the school year,” Dr. Matthew DuBois, president of the Massachusetts School Psychology Association, told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel on Wednesday. “It's this really interesting and important opportunity for us to teach kids about their emotions and how to navigate them successfully.”
It's normal for children to be nervous about the transition back to school, he said.
“Particularly when they've had a really, really successful and a really pleasant summer, the idea of transitioning away from that can feel really challenging,” DuBois said.
Some children might be experiencing more generalized anxiety, he said, while others may have a specific list of worries: Worrying about the bus ride to and from school, about who might be in their class, about navigating the lunchroom, about being in a class without their close friends.
DuBois said he encourages parents and guardians to have an open conversation with their children about their feelings.
“And when kids provide us that response, where they might be talking about feeling sad or feeling worried or feeling anxious, it's really, really important that we're not dismissive of those feelings,” he said. “What can happen when kids are saying, ‘well, I'm feeling worried about going back to school’ or ‘I'm feeling sad,’ is that sometimes as parents, we sort of want our kids to feel better. And so we'll maybe say, ‘Hey, there's nothing to worry about.’ ‘Don't worry, it's gonna be an awesome school year.’ But that can feel really invalidating for kids.”
Instead, he said, parents can tell their children that their feelings are normal.
“It totally makes sense to feel that way. And then we open a conversation about what kids might be experiencing,” he said. “If we come from a perspective of, that makes sense that you're feeling that, let's talk about it, that creates an entry point where we can talk a little bit more.”
If a child is worried about something specific, like going into a new school where they don’t know anyone, parents can lead them in imaginative exercises to help them visualize the scenario.
“You may talk through that experience with the child and say, okay, so you walk into the classroom and you don't know anyone. What's the thing you're going to do next?” DuBois said. “Using a lot of visualization and having a student sort of imagine themselves in that situation and then think through how would you want to respond in that situation? What might be helpful for you in that situation? Can be really powerful for kids.”
It can also help to describe some physical signs of anxiety: A faster heart rate, quicker breathing and trouble thinking clearly or focusing. Then, parents can teach their children some basic techniques to regulate their feelings, like taking deep breaths or squeezing and releasing their muscles.
Parents can also take a note from teachers, who usually return to work well before students have their first day of school to set up their classrooms and prepare for the year.
“That planning time is really, really important for helping teachers ease back in,” he said. “Kids are sort of jumping right back into the school day. So we might do a day or two, maybe a week in advance, having kids do some of that planning, some of that imagining, some of that thinking about school. So once they jump into that first school day, it won't feel as intense.”
Teachers, too, can feel their share of back to school stress.
“The profession of teaching has always been hard. It's never been harder than over the past several years,” DuBois said.
Even with open conversations and validation, some students might still experience anxiety so intense that they tell their parents they simply don’t want to go back to school at all, DuBois said.
In that case, he said, it’s helpful to remember that avoiding an anxiety-inducing task often only increases the anxiety around it. The best way to work through that anxiety, he said, is to figure out what support the child needs and encourage them to do what makes them worried.
“Validating that feeling is really, really important,” he said. “'Yes, you're probably going to feel a little bit anxious tomorrow when you go to school. But here are all the supports that are available to you to help navigate that.' And in talking with kids over time, the more that you're going to school, the more that you're doing those things that you're feeling anxious about, the better it's going to feel in the long run.”
