Joy Miceli, a pediatric psychologist at Dayton Children’s Hospital, said parents listening to their child “is the most important thing.” They should look for signs of anxiety, such as stomachaches, headaches, nightmares and expressing reservations.
Miceli said parents should be cautious about giving their child more information than what they’re ready for.
“Watching them will be your best approach,” Miceli said. “Maybe ask them an open-ended question. ‘Are you thinking about what happened yesterday? Do you want to talk about that?’ Give kids the opportunity to talk about it but not force them to talk about it, and make sure it’s quiet without any distractions.”
The school will be open to the public from 6 to 7:30 p.m. today. Miceli said it’s a good idea that the district is doing that.
“The kids and parents will walk through there and reassure themselves that everything’s going to be safe, just the way it was last week,” Miceli said. “It’s a good opportunity to deal with anxiety before being there in a school setting.”
Miceli said students should be strongly encouraged to go back to school as soon as possible.
“The longer they are out, the more that anxiety tends to build and it creates more problems,” she said. “The most important thing is talking to kids and finding out where the anxiety comes from, then developing a plan to help manage that.”
Click any of the following links for extensive, in-depth coverage:
To get news and weather updates on your smartphone, download the WHIO mobile apps here.
About the Author