Kids are Anxious About Returning for the New School Year

MAMA SAY WHAT?!

This year marks the fourth school year the pandemic has impacted, and students are anxious about returning.

While many schools throughout the country are returning to pre-pandemic operations, some kids can’t shake what they have been experiencing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adjusted their guidelines on August 11, 2022, surrounding social distancing and quarantining while also focusing on reducing severe illness.

The CDC still advises that people in close contact with COVID maintain a routine testing regimen, and anyone who tests positive should stay home for five days.

What Kids Are Most Anxious For

Jennifer Thompson is the Executive Director of the New Jersey and Delaware chapters of the National Association of Social Workers. Her son Michael will start the fourth grade this year.

“We live in a community where our precautions have always been much higher than the average community member, which has been hard for young kids to understand,” Thompson said.

“This year, we’re normalizing masks again – getting him ready to wear them in school and talking about how he can decide if and when that’s a good idea.

Since mask mandates are lifted in our school, with no return on the horizon, it’s important to us that our child feel empowered to wear them confidently in spaces where he may be in a tight space, with lots of people, and remove it when he’s less at risk.”

Thompson said that speaking to her son about how to make those decisions and practicing them in public has been vital.

For Some Kids, Returning to School Isn’t So Much About COVID, but School Violence

Swipe up now to read the full post!