Helping your student find closure after a crazy school year

Even a normal end to the school year can cause anxiety and mixed feelings in kids as they prepare to transition to summer vacation. They may be looking forward to a break and fun activities but also feel sad to leave their classroom community and teachers. The unknowns of transitioning to a new school year can be anxiety provoking.

This anxiety and sadness can show up in a variety of ways in students. Some students hold their feelings in and may seem quiet or worried. Others may act out and test boundaries. Others may seem to have a lower tolerance for frustration.

This year, all of those typical feelings are complicated by the fact that kids have been learning from home since March. Additionally, schools have had to cancel or revamp most end-of-year celebratory activities that help to balance the sadness of moving on. And now we are all living with a great amount of uncertainty as we face the summer and fall.

As always, if you feel your student may need extra support during this transition, please contact me at arreid@seattleschools.org

So, how can we support kids through this tough transition?

Over these last weeks of the school year, teachers and staff have been supporting students to help them feel a sense of closure, even remotely. Here are a few things you can do from home to continue to support your students:

1. Let your child know that it is OKAY that they feel this way, and that you understand. Normalizing and validating their feelings about the uncertain time ahead and the disappointment at missing out on fun year-end activities will hopefully take away any additional unpleasant emotions they are feeling, such as embarrassed or ashamed of themselves for being sad when the school year is over, when other kids may seem excited.

2. If possible, relate to your child. Tell them about a time when you experienced some fear, sadness, or discomfort during a time of uncertainty. Hearing that their parent/caregiver has experienced the same or a similar situation, and has turned out just fine, will be comforting to them. They will not feel so alone.

3. Be patient, offer comfort and stick to routines. Your child may need a lot of hugs and reassurance that things will be okay.

4. Discuss and prepare your children for summer plans. For many of us, those plans may still be pretty uncertain right now. Get creative, and enlist your child to help think of what plans you can safely make right now - whether its meeting a friend to ride bikes every Tuesday or planning for a weekly family movie night. Having something, even small things, to look forward to will help to keep your child hopeful and positive.

5. Invite your child to discuss or journal about moments that stuck out from the school year they are about to complete. If they have a difficult time coming up with these moments, help with reminders such as “remember the field trip to the pumpkin patch?” and encourage them to share. Again, this year was very different! I invite all students to share their story by completing My Story During the Pandemic (below). Younger students may need some help from caregivers. Click below to download and complete My Story During the Pandemic, and share a copy with me by e-mailing a photo or scanned copy back to me at arreid@seattleschools.org.

My Story During the Pandemic.docx

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