Back To School Anxiety: Parents Edition

Photo: Dr Laracuente & her daughters

Summer is over. Labor Day Weekend is behind us, so that means that all kids are back to school (And soon in Lebanon).

Most moms feel excited about starting a new school year, meeting new teachers, and making new friends. However for some moms, this time of the year can be stressful and overwhelming.

Guess what? You are not alone!

There are many of us feeling the same exact way. I can’t help but feel anxious for a couple of weeks after school starts.

Five reasons why parents feel anxiety:

1- More rigorous schedule

• With school starting, there comes more planning and extra responsibilities, along with a more rigid agenda

2- Increase in workload

• Between carpool, homework, projects, teacher demands, extracurricular activities, sports, etc., we feel like we need more hours in the day to get it all done

3- Love

• We love our children so much! We worry about them not liking the teacher, not finding new friends, not making the team, being bullied

4- Fear of failure

• We want the best for our children. Sometimes we wonder if we are good enough, smart enough, and capable enough to help our children have a successful school year

5- Perfectionism

• This is very important one. Thinking that everything will run smoothly and as planned could result in feelings of frustration and critical self evaluations. Realizing that sometimes we are striving for unattainable ideals or unrealistic goals, would help tremendously

Are you experiencing back to school anxiety?

LAMSA’s note: We would like to thank Dr Laracuente for her collaboration.