00:04I'm Annette Dubois, the confidence, emotions and psychological expert and also co-founder
00:10of Champs Academy Kids Coaching. In this video, I'll share with you three ways to manage the
00:16back-to-school anxieties. First of all, it starts with a routine. What routine, you say? Of course,
00:24after months of lockdown and then school holidays, we really haven't had that much of
00:29any kind of routine. And that can cause a bit of a shock syndrome when we do have to get
00:36back into
00:36the whole school routine, getting up early, school run, homework and all that comes with it. And we
00:44don't want to have that shock, so we want to kind of ease ourselves in, starting with things like
00:48bedtime routine, going to bed half an hour earlier or swapping the iPad device or TV for reading a book
00:56to create that better sleep process and get good quality sleep. Because we all know that when
01:03you're deprived of sleep, you have a foggy brain, you can't concentrate and emotions seem bigger and
01:09more intense. The other thing to do is start swapping snacks and food for healthier options.
01:17So you can choose different things. And of course, thinking about more protein in your child's diet,
01:23great for brain power. And then lastly, getting back into the homework routine. So around the sort of
01:314, 4.30, perhaps your child could do a bit of reading or learning to get them conditioned into doing
01:39homework after the school day.
01:45Next up is communication. Now, I call it mind your language. And you may well have heard that in a
01:51different way or maybe even used it in a different way. But what we say becomes our reality. So when
01:58we start using negative words and descriptions, we start to feel the weight of that. So when you use
02:06things like don't worry with your child, of course, it can be really reassuring or you think it's really,
02:14really reassuring for them, but actually it can have another effect. And here's a good example.
02:20If I said to you for the next few moments, don't think about a pink elephant. Whatever you do, you
02:26can
02:26think about anything else, but don't think about a pink elephant. What are you thinking about? A pink elephant.
02:32And here's why. Your mind has to think about that thing before not thinking about it. So saying something
02:38such as don't worry to your child, they have to think about worrying before not worrying. So the best thing
02:45to do is
02:46change it into something more positive and practical action orientated words. Do your best today.
02:52Give it a go. You're okay. You can do this. All of those things will start that whole positive promotion
03:01and positive momentum in your child. So they're not going to school worrying because you're telling them
03:08not to worry. And I appreciate it's really difficult. We say things like that all the time,
03:12but what most don't realize is the power of our words in how we think.
03:21And finally, inject some fun times back into things. Who said that school had to be so scary and boring
03:31worrying? I mean, who actually made that decision? Why can't we change that? We've had a lot of change
03:37over the last six months or so. Why don't we change the way that we think about school and the
03:42way
03:42children feel about school? So here's the thing to do. After the school day, maybe a few times a week,
03:50do something fun. Go to the park, arrange play dates, which will also help your child with their socializing
03:57skills after so long, but also that it will help them to feel that there's something after the school
04:02day to look forward to. We shouldn't necessarily see school as being really big, scary, boring or fearful.
04:11We should actually see it as a promotion of being able to excitingly learn about different things,
04:16but then have something different to do after the school day.
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