DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Our daughter has attended school virtually for the past five years and enjoyed the experience. Now that she is heading into ninth grade, she wants a more traditional highschool experience. Nevertheless, she has develop into more nervous as school gets closer and complains about stomachaches. How can I ease the transition for her and help her be less anxious?

ANSWER: School is one of the necessary places where children learn and grow intellectually, socially and emotionally. And while the need is robust for kids to return to a healthy school environment, change could be difficult.

It can be crucial to do not forget that not every one reacts to alter in the identical way. Your child clearly recognizes that this coming school yr will look different than past years.

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Step one to helping your daughter transition is to maintain a healthy mindset and concentrate on the positive. Highschool students may find their emotions vary between excitement and anxiety. Although your daughter supports this alteration, the closer the change becomes, the more likely she feels nervous.

I’d recommend that you just sit down along with your daughter and take a look at to get a way of what it’s about school that makes her nervous. Is she concerned about making latest friends? Frightened about being overwhelmed by homework? Is there something latest which may be causing anxiety, like coping with a locker combination or switching classes?

Sometimes just with the ability to discuss those details and put the nervousness into words may help a teen who’s feeling anxious. Attempt to help her take into consideration other ways this might end up. Normally, the anticipation of things tends to be worse than the actual experience.

I also recommend that you just talk along with your daughter about your personal experiences moving into highschool and any anxiety you had and the way you overcame it. Doing this may let your daughter know that she’s not alone within the situation, that it’s OK to be nervous, and there are methods to get through it.

Also, take a look at opportunities to ease your daughter right into a back-to-school routine. Confer with the varsity administration about her concerns. When you can, arrange for a tour of the varsity or a gathering with teachers prematurely of orientation. Talk along with your daughter about changes in each day routines, which could be a challenge for everybody — even adults.

Most significantly, remind your daughter to remain flexible and be open to the chance that her feelings may change over the course of the yr. And let her know that it’s OK to not feel OK. Teens should still must hear that affirmed by the adults of their lives.

For anyone feeling anxious, it’s normal to be irritable, or feel a way of loss or sadness. Problems with sleep, physical tension and worry may end up.

Consider the following pointers to assist manage your daughter’s mental health and ease the transition to this school yr:

• Remember and supportive. As you might have already done, be alert to acknowledge any ongoing concerns or anxiety, and proceed to speak along with your daughter about her fears.

• Be optimistic.  Maintain a positive attitude concerning the transition and encourage her to do the identical.

• Practice rest and learn latest skills to administer stress. Explore how rest, mindfulness or other stress management techniques, equivalent to yoga, can calm the mind. Several free classes and mental health apps are online. Lots of these skills are portable and could be used anytime, anywhere.

• Set and maintain a standard each day routine. Help your daughter aim to get up and go to bed as close as possible to the identical times every day. Remind her to remain hydrated, try to maintain up with a healthy weight-reduction plan and concentrate on getting physical activity. A healthy body helps maintain a healthy mood and mindset.

• Find support through friends. Help your daughter discover some friends who also is perhaps transitioning into highschool, either from virtual school or just moving up from middle school. Encourage them to attach before school begins to assist all of them feel more confident.

Some people may struggle with more significant mental health difficulties, so in the event you consider your child needs additional resources, I like to recommend talking together with her pediatrician or one other health care skilled to locate local mental health resources. 

— Dr. Craig Sawchuk, Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota