Back To School Anxiety - Ways to help - The Calm Caterpillar
Over the past two years, students of all ages have undergone a number of unprecedented and turbulent disruptions along their education journey. This is due to the global COVID-19 pandemic that saw many students learning from home, outside of the classroom, with the majority of their interactions with the outside world being mediated by their parents’ laptops or iPads.
Though many children are excited to return to school, plenty of them, even some of the excited ones, are experiencing anxiety around going back to school.
There are many reasons for this. For one, many students fell behind in classes, which can be a cause for concern about whether they will be able to succeed in school.
Other reasons include the eternal anxieties that have attended children for as long as there have been schools. For instance, lunch room anxiety, otherwise known as “who am I going to sit with?”, can be a stressor for students, especially younger ones whose in-person schooling was disrupted, and so left them with less solid social connections.
Simple Anxiety-Relieving Methods for School Anxiety
We ,here at the Calm Caterpillar are big believers in mindfulness exercises that can be done anywhere, anytime, and by anyone, because you never know when you may experience stress or anxiety in your daily life.
Breathing Techniques
There are many breathing techniques that you can use on a daily basis, but one in particular that we recommend for students is hand breathing.
Hand breathing is easy to learn and perform. Simply trace a finger from the bottom of your other hand’s palm up to the pinky, then go back down. Trace the next finger, continuing in this pattern until you have done the rest of the fingers on your hand.
Children can easily learn this technique, and will be surprised at how effective it is in calming them down. Focusing on a simple, easy activity can help decrease any inner conflict that may be bothering a student.
Calm Corner
For students who get anxious, or overly excited, during the school day, having a calm corner available to use in the classroom or at home can be a great help for reaching a state of calm.
A “calm down corner” is a place students can go to meditate, do breathing exercises, and, well, calm down.
For teachers looking to create a calmer classroom environment, investing in one of our Calm Corner Kits can be a productive way to help anxious or overactive students achieve a greater level of focus. Students will really respond to this, because it can function as a positive alternative to punishing or chastising a child for failing to adequately pay attention in the classroom.
Likewise, parents can implement one of our Calm Corner Kits at home that their child can go to before school, readying them mentally for whatever the day may bring. A meditation cushion that looks like a tree stump and a colorful breathing-exercise ball that expands are just a few of the child-friendly features of this kit.
Calm Caterpillar Feelings Poster
If you are a teacher, or a parent looking to make a “donation” to your child’s classroom, the Calm Caterpillar Feelings Poster, which provides a visual reminder for how to perform hand breathing, along with an emotions chart that helps children readily identify the feelings they may be struggling with.
Setting this up in the classroom can give all students a powerful reminder that school can be an enjoyable, rather than anxiety-producing, environment.
The Calm Caterpillar Is Here to Help
Want to learn more about the great products and classes that we offer, so that you, your students, or your children can get the most out of the new school year? Visit our website today, where you can read our blog about the best ways to increase mindfulness!
