Director of Academics & Marketing
Every year I both look forward to AND simultaneously dread the back-to-school date in August.I look forward to it because my kids need to get back on a consistent schedule, and my house will be so much cleaner without them around all day messing it up. I dread it because I know how much anxiety a new school year brings up for both me and my children. They have new teachers, new classes, new social dynamics to navigate, and sometimes a whole new school to attend, while I have the pressure to manage it all. These uncertainties typically come with lots of unknown expectations and inevitably cause stress for all of us!Since each of my kids have different fears and handle stress in their own way, I end up spending hours puzzling out how best to help them approach the school year with confidence.Here are some tips I find helpful when approaching a new school year:
- Minimize Assumptions – It’s easy to assume we know what is bothering our kids as school approaches. The reality is, sometimes we don’t. Get curious! Ask your kids what they are looking forward to and what they are a little nervous about with the coming school year. Allowing them to name what is coming up for them both empowers them to identify what they are struggling with and helps us better understand how we can support them.
- Support Solutions – As a parent, I have fabulous solutions for almost everything. However, when it comes to my kids, I make an effort to step back and allow some space for them to identify solutions that will work best for them. This allows them to feel a sense of agency in their process and my role is to support them in that process.
- Record and Remind – There is something magic about writing when we are working through hard things. Writing down our fears, anxieties, and solutions both cements those ideas into knowing and serves as a reminder when we need it most.
Director of Academics & Marketing
