How to banish those school thoughts…

It might be the weekend but our son just can’t get the negative thoughts about school out of his head. So much stress at such a young age…

“Dad I just can’t stop thinking about school. I don’t like being so sad about school and it’s a Saturday.”

So we are trying something different today. It not aimed at directly treating the school anxiety issue it’s just a distraction exercise. An attempt to to get rid of the bad thoughts for a short while. The idea is that he will tell me as soon as he has bad school thoughts and I will ask him a random question which he needs to answer.

Worry alert: What animal would make the best Horror Movie Star?

“I think a Hippo Dad. The way they can appear so friendly but are so dangerous. The way they can disappear under the water and then suddenly attack from below”

Worry alert: Which other animal is our mad dog most like?

“It’s a cross between a playful monkey and a dolphin excitedly swimming in the ocean”

Worry alert: If an alien came to earth what would be the thing which scares it the most?

“Your singing. The new Star Wars story arc, it’s that bad. Brussel Sprouts”

Worry alert: If you were a superhero what would be you talent?

“Being Dyslexic in every language on every planet.”

Worry alert: If a universal tyrant super villain attacked earth, someone like Thanos. Who could save us?

“The wrestler Becky Lynch. She would sort him out.”

Worry alert: Thanos the mighty foe of the Avengers, What is his favourite singer or band?

“The Beetles. Similar hair cuts and it’s kinda funny that the ultimate destroyer of life likes music about peace and love.”

Worry alert: Which story would you like to change the most?

“Make Santa more real. Make the Hound of the Baskervilles a real demon dog and not just a big ScoobyDoo dog.” Strangely when I was a kid I remember making up stories where the Hound of Baskervilles was a demonic beast summoned by Moriaty.

Worry alert: Invent a name for a new animal.

“Jeff”.

How about a more scientific sounding name.

“Einstein Jeff, Stephen Hawkin Jeff”

Can’t you make it sound a bit more animal like.

“Four legged, long tailed Einstein Jeff”

Worry alert: What’s the best nickname you have been called.

“JimBob SquarePants”

Worry alert: Merge two movies together to get a new film name.

“Star Wars and Star Trek. You get Star Trek.”

Haha you know what I mean. Something like The Empire Strikes Back and Back to the Future. You get The Empire Strikes Back to The Future. He just looks at me with one of those looks.

“Superman and Batman. Merging together you get Superman”

I give up on that one.

Worry alert: Change the name of a country to something better.

“England should be Rainland”

And on and on.

Most admit it did work as a temporary fix but it doesn’t permanently banish the worries. But it’s something we can add to our armoury of anxiety help tools.

If anyone has got any ideas we can try to ease these school worries, please let us know. It would be greatly appreciated.

68 thoughts on “School thoughts”

  1. Just yesterday I started a Day of Worry blog post, where I wrote down the one big worry of the day. I had really let it consume me, until I thought enough about it to write it down. I’m challenging myself daily to focus on the one thing that has me worried for the day. I couldn’t think of a single worry today!! I’m hoping to continue it daily, (but I give up easily!!) Anyways, maybe focusing on the one major worry of the day would help him as well??!!

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  3. Have you and your son ever seen Drop Dead Fred? It’s funny but it’s a film about imaginary friends and learning to conquer your fears. I loved it, I think it would be a fun way of introducing coping mechanisms. Also making fears fun. Think of the Boggart in Harry Potter. Make the fear/anxiety ridikulis! Eventually he’ll find his underlying cause and expelliarmus it!

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  5. You are the one with the bright ideas. but if I think of anything I will let you know.
    We have our southern hemisphere school year here from late Jan to mid December. Late June last year we discovered my nephew’s seven year old daughter is dyslexic. She had already told us she was dumb at maths and no good at school. It was very puzzling as she was progressing so well in reading, writing, and spelling. Finally I tested her at home. It turned out that her problem is reading and writing maths. Her class had tests twice each term – 8 minute speed tests of basic maths facts. The class maths whizzes scored up to 50. she worked her way up from 6 to 29. Only a few tests, but they blighted her life at school. We have no dyslexia group in our little city, but with my experience of teaching mainly year 1 to 4 classes I have a maths session with her once a week, and her confidence has grown enormously.
    What goes well for your son at school, that can be emphasized and discussed ?

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    1. This is really interesting. So many kids don’t get diagnosed and are just written off. In most of the tests our son is getting marks near the top or the top of his class without any reading help, he’s basically guessing the questions. That’s when it’s a multi choice test. Other tests and class work he is getting marked down not on knowledge but on spelling and hand writing. So frustrating.

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      1. How frustrating for you and for him. In our schools the children here spend most of their time with one class teacher at primary school each year, so the teacher knows them reasonably well. Secondary school is different, many teachers for each child, who does not know them so well. At present her teachers are well intentioned even if they do not get what her mother is telling them. She struggled a lot with reading, writing, and spelling for her first two years at school, but was helped by special groups and special class programmes. I taught Reading Recovery in my last years of teaching, and I think that helps a lot to help her. Her brand of dyslexia for some reason just struggles with maths, but she will now try any maths put in front of her, and does get much better scores.

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      8. The seven year old’s mother grew up with a brother who was diagnosed with dyslexia at eight. When the seven year old freaked out at my test she recognised the behaviour as the same as his. I now think her father’s younger brother has had dyslexia all along, and also their uncle, the brother of the two brothers’ mother. It seems to me that dyslexia is a physical condition and can be hereditary. The mother of her father and uncle, her Nana, really grieves for what they have gone through throughout their lives.

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  10. I used to keep a moan book and write whatever was annoying me at the time in it. The following day I’d read it, realise things weren’t so bad, and got more pleasure out of ripping out the pages. Don’t know if would help writing it down.
    I think you’re doing a terrific job.

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  12. Pingback: School thoughts – A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. – Single Dad, Parents Article – Parents Blog

  15. I love the idea of Thanos singing “All you need is love” while obliterating half of the universe.

    I’m not sure how relevant this is, but we have found that letting — and encouraging — our kids to talk about whatever is concerning them. It can take a while and if there is something specific they can do, I will ask them about it, but sometimes just listening while they get it out of their system is enough.

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  17. Your son sounds like me. I have to literally talk myself down every time I run errands because I’m using the highway where I’ve had three panic attacks. It’s the only road, so I’ve no choice to use it. There’s no erasure of the anxiety–just taming it and locking it back up.

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