COLUMBUS, Ohio — Many students in Ohio returned to in-person learning at the beginning of the school year, while others continued to learn remotely. For those that have spent much of the school year learning from home, they now have to adjust to being back in the classroom.

What You Need To Know

  • Many students returning to the classroom are suffering from separation anxiety

  • It is found most commonly in middle school students

  • Parents are encouraged to have an open dialogue with their children about their concerns

That adjustment within the last few months has caught the attention of pediatric psychologists at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Pediatric Psychologist Dr. Parker Huston said they've been getting calls about students struggling with separation anxiety.  While it’s too soon to know just how far reaching the impact of separation anxiety will have on families this school year, Huston said they’re seeing more and more of it in middle school students.

It’s thought because, in 2020, kids were pulled from what they knew as a safe place, which then was labeled as a potentially harmful place. They were then to be told they'd have to go back to a “new normal,” which was unfamiliar, while leaving a parent behind, was a lot to process.

So for parents to address the problem, he said it's best to be intentional and keep the lines of communication open, while looking out for potential signs of separation anxiety. 

What to look for:

  • Refusing to go to school even with a relative they would have gone with before 
  • Extended periods of refusing to go to school
  • Frequent discussions of parent safety
  • Expressing concerns about death or dying 

“Many kids they'll just start having these strange conversations about, you know, I don't want you to go to work today because I think you might die, or I think you might not come back,” Dr. Huston said. “And it's like, you know, to a parent, that seems really farfetched, but to them they're processing all the ways in which this separation might not work out well.” 

What to do:

  • Separate from your children for periods of time 
  • Let them play in a neighbor’s backyard without being present
  • Be flexible
  • Let them know the first days back to school may be tough 
  • Communicate with teachers about behavior out of the ordinary
  • Don't over promise by telling your kids you’ll always be around, or you’ll come back right after work
  • Tell them you’ll always check in with them when you can

Find more about separation anxiety here.