5 Best Tips to manage the Post-Pandemic Social Anxiety in Kids.

Children are heading to school in a couple of months/weeks worldwide after almost 1.5 years. All over the world, child psychologists, as well as different organizations which are dealing with children, are advising that unless the schools are opened up shortly, we will be losing an entire generation of kids to online addiction. That’s why most countries are contemplating opening schools at the earliest. But as a parent, we only know the extent of social anxiety built up in our children due to staying home for so long. This blog aims to discuss a few practical tips to deal with post-pandemic social anxiety in kids.

What is Post-pandemic Social Anxiety?

Most people think that once the schools reopen, the kids will adjust automatically, and many problems will be resolved. But honestly, once they enter the schools, the children would only start facing a unique set of challenges that hitherto went unnoticed. The topmost among them is the fear of stepping out.

We, adults, weren’t confident and kept worrying about the germs and infections while stepping out to buy groceries or other supplies. Then imagine the little individuals and the amount of stress they would be carrying around after they learned that the schools are reopening. On one side, they are excited to meet their friends and teachers, but on the other hand, they are also worried about their safety. Some children might even experience separation anxiety from their parents, leaving their safe space (house) and stepping out into the open areas.

All the different forms of anxiety that stem from the essential act of stepping out after the pandemic are called post-pandemic social anxieties by child psychologists.

Most clinical psychologists and even AAP advise that though the children seem to exhibit the initial excitement about going back to school after a long time would start experiencing this anxiety as the school reopening dates come closer. So parents do have considerable responsibility in dealing with this post-pandemic anxiety and stress.

The parents need to reassure themselves first that sending the children to school is safe and secure and then reassure them that it would be safe and beneficial for them to step outside. At the same time, we also should caution them to be observant of the situations and surroundings so that they can know when to back out and inform the nearby caretakers if needed.

Tips to manage post-pandemic social anxiety.

The following are some simple yet practical tips we can use on ourselves or with kids to beat this social anxiety.

1. Acknowledge the feelings and emotions:
2. Take baby steps
3. Set up a routine:
4. Reemphasize other safety routines.
5. Its OK to pause if required

Acknowledge the feelings and emotions: Do you remember your child’s first day in school or in that big school/college? Show those pictures and talk about that day to your child. While narrating those stories, tell them how proud you are of them as they managed that separation anxiety efficiently. While discussing this, acknowledge and accept that social anxiety exists between you and the child. And you all can together overcome this feeling by taking baby steps.

Take baby steps: Instead of attending a crowded function or going to a crowded place, try taking them on short walks with limited friends and family in the lap of nature. Invite one or two friends of your child for a play date. That way, they will slowly start mingling with the kids their age or talking and playing with them.

Set up a routine: The kids are used to online classes and start attending them in their pajamas without having a full breakfast. They are also used to getting up late. Once when the school reopens, all these flexibilities would be lost. The kids would have to rush to school to be on time. So start practicing pre-pandemic school routines at the earliest. That will avoid the mad rush at the nth hour.

Reemphasize the safety routines: The schools have opened up doesn’t mean that social distancing can be ignored. So, reemphasize the need for the safety routines like social distancing, wearing masks, and sanitizing the children. We need to talk to them positively about the safety measures the schools and teachers take to ensure that the children are safe. Also, tell them about the importance of staying safe and healthy. Advise them that we need to take these minor risks of stepping out, as life can’t just stop due to pandemics.

It’s OK to take a step back: If the child is not doing well or wants to stay home and enjoy his alone time, it’s beautiful. All the children might not be willing to jump immediately and become social overnight. Some children might feel it’s overwhelming to be in the company of so many children suddenly. So they might need downtime or me time to calm their anxious nerves. So we need to give that flexibility to our children as well.

Final Thoughts:

Every child and family will have different requirements for social time and downtime. We need to understand that life wouldn’t just return to the pre-pandemic era, but at the same time, it’s also not bad. Once we have this open mind, things will start falling slowly but steadily into place.

Hence as parents, we must teach our children to take their baby steps back into the outside world and be their anchors until they settle back in the outside world. The way we react to this situation would teach our kids how to be resilient and stay safe in uncertain and changing conditions in the future. So make many good family memories and remain the main anchoring points in the child’s life until things return to normal.