Question from member: We are having all the drills at school this week, and today is the lockdown drill. Last night, my daughter was having some anxiety about it, about what it is for. Made me so sad that she even has to prepare for such a thing. ? I let her express her big feelings about it and tell me all about why it scared her. Seemed to help but she had a hard time going to sleep.
Reply from Rachel:
This IS so heartbreaking. It made me sick the first time my daughter in kindergarten (first time in public school) told me that she had to hide in the bathroom with other kids and they had to all be super quiet. đ
Good for you for letting her express her feelings. Kids need to be heard. Does she have strategies to use when she’s worried that help her get through the feelings? (Taking breaths, using a word and choosing other words to represent each letter (PEACE = pigs, earth, apple, cake, eagles), coaching a stuffed animal to take deep breaths, wrapping herself up in a blanket, etc.?) Often all we can do when the world is a scary place is to help kids cope with the feelings that come up.
As a mom with anxiety-prone kids, I’m definitely with you on this one.