Circle of Trust

Shared with the PAX about the importance of checking in on their kids as they start school next week. Class lists and schedules were released yesterday and anxiety and nerves were high across our towns. As a school counselor in 308 I receive numerous emails asking for schedule changes or one reason or another. Yesterday I witnessed my 7th grade daughter go through some anxiety as she was in a group text sharing her schedule with her friends. One by one every schedule she checked had no one in her classes or in her lunch. When she finally found one that friend was even more anxious than my daughter and told the group she was changing her schedule to be with everyone else. Immediately my daughter broke down in tears as she said she had no one at school to hang with and she was alone. I explained to her that 1 there is no way a schedule was changed 30 seconds after they were released but even more important was that she is at the point in her life where she has many groups of friends and may not always be with them every minute of the day. We talked about her group of friends that she plays travel soccer with, who she was in the school musical with and the helpers she worked with at 6th grade orientation. I told her that she has many groups of people that she knows and hangs out with at various times throughout the week and it would all work out. While it would be nice to be with your neighborhood friends you will be seeing them everyday on the bus to and from school and when they hang out around the house. She reached out to other groups of people and pretty soon realized that she was not alone and did have some people in her classes and lunch( I am positive there are more out there as well). Long story short the end of summer has arrived. Our kids always enjoy the time away from school and the freedoms that come with it. The return to school can be scary, in particular with the unknowns. Our middle and high school kids have so much more to think about and deal with than I ever did growing up and they need to know we as parents are there to support them. We as PAX of F3 know that everything is not easy, but in the end we find a way to do hard things. Teach that to your kids and encourage them to step outside their comfort zone as the benefits of doing so will set them up for success later in life.

Ended in Prayer