Even though summer holds the connotation of ice cream, bare feet, swimming pools,
and a happy-go-lucky vibe, many of our children have 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.
In the Meantime
Plan family and fun time together and enjoy the summer. Make meals together, spend time apart with sleepovers—with friends, at camp, and with grandparents or cousins.
Discuss your child’s worries as they come up and ask: “What do you need that will make your school worries lessen?” And work off of that information to guide your next steps.
Even though we usually associate the experience of anxiety with the school year, the summer can also create anxiety for our children and teens.
What does anxiety during summer look like?
What are we doing?
This anxiety may look like a child who is worried about the schedule and what he or she will be doing each day. The “open-ness” of the daily schedule, as it veers away from the consistency that children and teens usually have during the school year, can be overwhelming.
They may have questions such as:
“What are we doing today?”
“What are we doing tonight?”
“What are we doing this weekend?”
Your child may be uncomfortable with not having a set schedule. A potential solution is to give your child a weekly or monthly desk or printed calendar that includes activities, a camp schedule, vacations, and friend or family gatherings so that your child can have a sense of what the week will look like. Your child can write down what is happening in an effort to be in charge of their schedule and upcoming events.
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