Dear Kiantha: Anxious parents sending kids back to school

Dear Kiantha,

My kids go back to school next week and I am terrified. On one hand I feel like a bad mother for not having the capacity to home-school them and on the other I am afraid to send them to school after the recent school shootings. In all honesty, I’m a wreck.

Dear Friend,

This morning I woke up thinking about all of the kids heading back to the classroom soon, and the first emotion I felt was anxiety. Not so much around the kids returning to school but around the lack of resources and support available for the children, teachers, administrators and parents.

Can you imagine if school districts had the resources available to support parents who may be struggling to send their children back into school buildings?

What if districts all over the country were able to have mental health advocates meet with parents in the weeks leading up to the start of school to talk about school trauma, safety planning and ongoing support for children and families who have been impacted emotionally by school shootings?

What if there was funding and structures in place to do quarterly check ins with families to help mitigate the impact of the trauma they are experiencing?

There are so many parents like you who are not able to home-school their children yet are in fear of sending them back to school. You are not alone.

Our ability to move together as a national community after traumatic incidents like the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, speaks to our resiliency as a nation however, it also sends a false signal that deeper levels of support are not needed.

There seems to be an expectation that in the aftermath of traumatic events we simply pull ourselves together and forge on.

If we were to be honest with one another, that has never worked, which is why so many of us walk around carrying trauma.

I completely understand why the start of this school year is difficult for you. I am right there with you, especially given that these tragedies not only disrupt our children’s lives, but they also disrupt the peace and safety in our Momma Bear hearts.

We are in this together.

Soul to Soul,

Kiantha

Dear Kiantha can be read Fridays in The Spokesman-Review. To submit a question, please email DearKiantha@gmail.com.