Jennifer Miller of Confident Parents, Confident Kids along with a number of experts were interviewed by author Lisa Tolin of TODAY.com for the following insightful articles about anxiety and the start of school this year. The first deals with our own anxiety as parents and how that impacts our children. Here’s how it begins…

There was a time when parents struggling with remote learning (read: all parents) saw the start of school as the promised land, a welcome relief to the return of whatever “normal” awaited.

But with COVID-19 continuing to spread, parents around the U.S. have justifiable fear about the dangers facing children, teachers and themselves. Many are opting to home-school or go fully remote. Others are biting their fingernails as they prepare to send their kids out the door. Read the full article:

Is School Safe? How to Check Your Anxiety of Sending Kids Back

The second article deals with our children’s unique anxiety this year returning to school during a pandemic. It begins…

As soon as school let out for summer, my 5-year-old son began intense negotiations about starting kindergarten in the fall.

In addition to standard questions about a new school (are the teachers nice?), he wants to know about the changes. Will coronavirus be gone? (No.) Does he have to wear a mask? (Yes.) Can I be there every day? (No.) His response was firm: “Then I’m never going to school.”

Back-to-school jitters are to be expected even in normal times, which 2020 is surely not. After months at home, children leaving the nest may fuel intense separation anxiety. Read the full article:

The Year of Separation Anxiety; How Back to School is Harder than Ever in 2020

Thanks Lisa Tolin and TODAY.com for addressing the issues that are most timely, relevant and concerning.