Overcoming School Anxiety

Heading to school is a big deal, what a milestone, what a leap! And its only natural that there's some sort of anxiety that goes along with heading to school.

Given the opportunity to reference a great book, Overcoming School Anxiety, has helped me to help my child to make the back to school transition so much easier. The fact that she may have anxiety gave me anxiety, and having a guide to go through to help myself help her, made a world of difference even with my own nervousness!

A bit about Overcoming School Anxiety:::

Diane Peters Mayer developed the Overcoming School Anxiety Program through her years as a psychotherapist working with school-anxious children and their parents and has successfully treated hundreds of elementary school students suffering from this common disorder. As she observes in OVERCOMING SCHOOL ANXIETY: How to Help Your Child Deal With Separation, Tests, Homework, Bullies, Math Phobia, and Other Worries (AMACOM; 2008) “the real beginnings of this program come out of my own painful experiences with school anxiety. Although not formally diagnosed with a learning disability, as an adult I finally put a name to the struggles I had with math that could make school a living hell.” She shows parents how to deal with a wide variety of problems, from test and homework anxiety, to bullying, school violence, and fear of speaking up in class. Mayer also offers easy-to-learn techniques for children, including breathing and relaxation exercises, focusing techniques, and tips on proper diet and exercise that help relieve stress. Parents will learn to cope with the needs of children with every kind of anxiety.

Could I pin-point a "most valuable section" in this book? Nope. There were things that applied to our situation as well as topics that didn't yet. Did I hand this book over to my aunt yesterday after I finished it? Yes... She's the mom of 4 kids, with one in college, one in 10th grade, one in 6th grade, as well as a 1st grader. She called me up late last night and said that she had pretty much finished the book that night and was so thankful that I shared with her. It helped her as well to help her children in ways that she wouldn't have thought of in the past.

Pick up your copy of Overcoming School Anxiety at Amazon.com.

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for Overcoming School Anxiety & it's publisher, who supplied the book for review.