Summer Vacation Transition Anxiety

Parents, I know that you are probably as eager to start the summer as I am! Not having to drag our kids out of bed and get to the school on time will be such a nice break! I know the kids are super excited to have a break from homework and the responsibility of being a student for a few months. As wonderful as summer break is, the transition between the school year and summer can be hard on our kiddos.

This time of the year is filled with unexpected changes.... classrooms are being packed up, schedules are altered, everyone is excited, and so many "special" events that require flexibility and heavy doses of social skills are happening. The kids and I have been having many discussions about handling the changes. Many of them have adopted our skill of asking their teacher in the morning, "Are there any changes today?" This has been a great help and eased many worries.

If your child starts exhibiting behaviors that have been resolved for quite a while during this transition time, please take a deep breath. Yes, it is frustrating. I feel it, too. But regression during a big transition is very common. If your child has shown solid growth behaviorally and it seems like things are sliding backwards a bit give it some time before you start with a new intervention. Continue being consistent with your expectation and current plan. This will give your child the predictability they need during this time of transition. Keep emotions as neutral as possible so that the regression is not compounded by an emotionally charged response. Usually, the regression will stop and the skill will be restored after a short period of time. 

As we enjoy the long weekend, I'm going to ask each of you to please help your child with an activity that will help with the mixed feelings that can accompany the summer vacation transition. Please help your child fill out this calendar for next week identifying their plans for Thursday, Friday, etc. The plan does not have to be detailed. Just identify where they will be (home or traveling?), who they will be with, and a main activity they can count on.  It can be as simple as Thursday is Legos, Friday is a trip to the pool, Saturday is video games at home. Have your child post their calendar on the fridge or in their rooms. Doing this simple activity can help tremendously with decreasing anxiety and helping your child end their school year on a good note. The calendar can be found under "Transition" on the right sidebar.

Please make sure that you are following this blog by email. You will receive an email notification when new topics are posted.  I will be posting several pieces of information about activities for handwriting improvement and summer activity ideas over the next week.