Students will be returning to class in a few short weeks. While many are excited, others are feeling anxious. “Apparently grades are supposed to get harder, so I am worried about that,” says Chloe McDonald, who is going into grade 10. “This morning I woke up and I thought I was going to be sick. I was so anxious about this but after getting there and meeting the faculty and other med students, they were great,” says Noah Guest, a first year med student at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Registered psychologist Dayna Lee-Baggley says back to school jitters are common and parents should normalize them. “Our goal really as parents should be to help kids do things even when they are anxious. So, it’s not really to remove the anxiety, it’s to give them the confidence to do things even when they feel anxious,” says Lee-Baggley. She explains there are many things parents can look for to determine if their child is experiencing anxiety. One sign she highlights is behavior changes and if a child is starting to become withdrawn. In these cases, Lee-Baggley suggests open conversations and encourages students to acknowledge their nerves but also think of something they are looking forward to. “Sometimes we can remind ourselves that our minds are going to anticipate even more anxiety than there actually is. Think about the things we are looking forward to that can balance them out,” says Lee-Baggley. Many Maritime students have their own ways to prepare for back to school, both mentally and physically. “Shopping, I like to shop,’ says Kayla Kavanaugh, who is going into Grade10. “I gotta distract myself with friends and do what I can to not think about it at all,” adds Warner Hodgins, a third-year NASCAD student. Lee-Baggley says there are also some things students can do on their own to help calm their nerves and feel more prepared for the upcoming school year ahead. “You can try to connect with people, your friends from school if you haven’t seen them before you get to school to have a reconnection and make that transition a bit easier, you can also start making the routine easier like getting up a bit earlier every day to kind of get ready for the school time,” adds Baggley. With the clock counting down on back to class, there’s still time for students to put their mental and physical health at the forefront, as they prepare to navigate a new year. Lee- Baggley also encourages students to start getting back into routines and reminds parents not to pass on their anxious feelings to their kids, just to help them normalize their own.
