Mental health expert urges parents to help students get through end-of-year academic anxiety
Therapist Jody Baumstein says anxiety is normal but may look different in a child or a teen.
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As the end of the school year approaches, experts say that it is common for students to feel uneasy about end-of-the-year projects and tests.
“Academic anxiety, test anxiety are all really common, and a lot of times kids experience it and immediately think something's wrong with them,” says Jody Baumstein, a licensed therapist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Baumstein says anxiety is normal but may look different in a child or a teen. She says some signs of anxiety may include:
Being excessively focused on school to the point where they no longer take part in activities they used to love, withdrawing from others, having anxious thoughts before a test, being fidgety, being tearful or having difficulty focusing.
“You might also notice that they're studying so much, but that's not bringing the anxiety down. Because it's really not about how much they're studying, it's about their mindset around it,” Baumstein says.
She says parents can help by normalizing nervousness and telling students that everyone feels anxious at times, but that it is usually temporary. Parents should also take the pressure off their children by letting them know that one grade or one project doesn’t define them – that it is their effort that makes the parents proud, not the outcome. Parents should also remind their children that their love is not dependent on how well the child does on a test.
Baumstein also says that parents should help their children learn that anxiety is a problem they can solve. She says learning to get through it and not around it will stick with them.
“Whether it's a test now or a job interview in the future, they're going to need to know how to navigate these big feelings,” she says.
Baumstein adds that part of anxiety is the stress of something that is not familiar. Parents can help by practicing test-taking. And she says if a child is struggling, a mental health professional can help.
