Back to School for Moms

6 Tips to help address anxiety with the return to face-to-face instruction

As we approach the return to school during the pandemic this may be a different experience for many of us. I am apprehensive and nervous about the Delta variant and what this may mean for children as they return to face-to-face teaching. I am providing 6 tips that may help to ease some of the anxiety that many of us are experiencing:

1) Discuss your concerns with your child's pediatrician (pediatric primary care provider). This discussion can help you to mentally rehearse the best-case and worst-case scenarios for your child based on their risk for severe illness (if diagnosed with COVID-19) and what precautions your child, child's school, and your family need to take.

2) Have a plan B in place should the face-to-face instruction have to come to a halt again so that you be better prepared for the transition (have an idea of what child care facility you would send your child to if the school system closed or if you would hire an in-home child care provider).

3) Discuss the possibility of another school shut down and what this would mean for your situation with your supervisor.

4)Take it one day at a time. With my job, it can be nerve-racking trying to predict when my return to office will occur, how this will impact my children and the risk of transmitting it to my children.

5) Keep the lines of communication open with their educators (this is really important if your child has an IEP). Be sure to provide any documentation of new evaluations, updated progress notes, and requests for medical accommodations to your IEP team.

6) If your child will ride a bus, consider discussing the best precautions for them to practice with their pediatrician and educators (keeping their mask on at all times, washing hands once arrive at school and once they arrive home, etc.)

Author: Alita-Geri Carter, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC