Is Your Child or Teen Feeling Anxious This Summer?
written by Dr. Liz Matheis, posted on Psychology Today
Even though summer holds the connotation of ice cream, bare feet, swimming pools,
and a happy-go-lucky vibe, many of our children have are heightened level of anxiety with the transition from the end of the school year into the summer season and often through the summer. Although it is a transition that comes with less work such as homework and studying, it’s a transition nonetheless, and for our children who don’t like change, it can be overwhelming.
During the summer, there can be more unstructured downtime with which our children don’t know what to do. This is especially true if our kids have a packed activity schedule after school and on weekends, during the school year, with little time for our children to manage their time and sit with quiet activities or alone. During that downtime (without screens) is when our children find their skills such as creativity, brainstorming, problem-solving, and figuring things out. Without this time, our kids rely on us, their parents, to schedule their time and can actually become anxious if they have nothing to do. The good news is that the statistics are strong: no child has yet to have been harmed via boredom.