How to help your children cope back at school after trauma

Wild weather events, new Covid waves and cost-of-living pressures are expected to cause a surge of back-to-school anxiety for Queensland students. This is what you can do to help your children cope.

Wild weather events, new Covid waves and cost-of-living pressures are expected to cause a surge of back-to-school anxiety for Queensland students, with parents being urged to monitor their children for signs of distress.

Psychologists and support services have warned that children impacted by severe weather including Cyclone Jasper, historic flooding in the Far North and vicious South East storms could struggle to cope after a tumultuous school holiday period.

“Children might have more difficulty separating from their parents at drop-off, and in the classroom they might be more distracted, and they may have increased anxiety if there is a trigger such as a rainy day,” Children’s Health Queensland clinical psychologist Samantha Finnis said.

Ms Finnis said parents could help prepare their children at home.

“I would suggest starting the back-to-school routine now – setting a bedtime, preparing uniforms and lunch boxes, reduce the stress on everyone on the actual day,” she said.

“Simple strategies to reduce back-to-school anxiety include mindfulness, calm breathing, any other relaxation practices, as well as maintaining a healthy diet, exercise and sleep.”

Amy Turner, chief operating officer at children’s support social enterprise Youthrive, said her organisation’s psychologists had seen an increase in children seeking help after Covid, with greater incidents of school refusal.

“In terms of wild weather, I think the biggest part is the destruction it can cause for families, homes, communities, and even schools,” she said.

“It causes disruption and that creates feelings of anxiety and sadness – which can lead to trouble with their learning and focusing.

“We also know families impacted by the storms have been staying in different places, so their routine and safe place is no longer there.”

Gold Coast mum Joanne Rahn with seven-year-old daughter Valentina and nine-year-old son Andreas head of back-to-school next week. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Gold Coast mum Joanne Rahn and her children were in the path of the severe weather on Christmas Day and has no doubt the aftermath affected her children.

“We lost power for 30 hours, it was very scary and something that my parents, who are in their late 70s, said they had never experienced anything like it before,” she said.

“The next day when we were driving around seeing hundred-year-old trees ripped out, I think all kids seeing this did suffer some genuine trauma, it was like something out of a movie.”

Ms Rahn’s seven-year-old daughter Valentina is going into Year 2, while nine-year-old Andreas will start Year 4 next week at St Francis Xavier Catholic School at Runaway Bay.

“Valentina is really excited to go back to school. Andreas is quite nervous about going back to school with a new classroom, new teacher, and our area got hit really badly by the Christmas storms,” she said.

“With the cost of living, what happened on Christmas evening, and Covid – it’s all about uncertainty.

“We’ve been starting to get them back into the school bedtime routine, and we talk to them about their fears, concerns, and what might be exciting them about going back to school.”

It comes as the state has also been hit with two new Covid-19 subvariants that have left hundreds of people in hospital.

A Department of Education spokesman urged parents to keep sick children at home.