Tips for helping students and parents through a new and unusual school year

Veronica Vaiti, a psychotherapist, is recommending that parents listen to their children’s concerns and be on the lookout for behavioral changes.

News 12 Staff

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Aug 16, 2020, 1:15 AM

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Updated 1,734 days ago

As students gear up to head back to school, many kids and their parents have concerns about heading back to the classroom.

Students have not been in schools since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out across the nation. Cases in New York have fallen dramatically, paving the way for in-person teaching across the state.

Veronica Vaiti, a psychotherapist, is recommending that parents listen to their children’s concerns and be on the lookout for behavioral changes.

"it can show up as angry, irritable and curt outbursts,” she says. “It can show up as avoidance behavior, it can show up as tummy aches, headaches, tiredness."

Mental health experts have a number of recommendations that can help prepare children for the new and unusual school year.
Create an at-home learning space for children, even if it is just a dining room table.
Focus on skills rather than assignments – allow them to go at their own pace.
Stay active with your kids – cooking together, playing board games, taking walks or exercising together to relieve the monotony of social distancing.
Enforce the positives by focusing on the good things in life and not the negatives.