Child Melting Down After School? Try this!

Anyone experience a tantrum or meltdown when picking up your child from school? Their teacher may say they had a great day and they may behave perfectly at school, but inevitably when you arrive or shortly after you leave, all hell breaks loose. This could actually be a sign of a healthy attachment.

As Dr. Laura Markham of www.ahaparenting.com explains, “Kids who feel their moms can be depended on to comfort them and empathize with their feelings usually run to their mom for comfort when she arrives.They may burst into tears from the effort of keeping it together all day in her absence…that’s healthy attachment.” This phenomenon has also been called “after-school restraint collapse” and is most common in children under 12 because of the emotional, physical and mental demands school places on them.

Some helpful tips on how to make this transition easier on everyone:
1) Get down on your child’s level and talk through their feelings, acknowledge what their feelings are making them do, don’t punish the behavior in that moment.
2) Give kids time to have a snack and relax their minds.
3) Do something active or silly — getting your kid to move their body or laugh can release the tension.

Check out these resources for more info:
http://bit.ly/afterschooltransition
http://bit.ly/2ogoJCC

Liked this post? Give us a clap! And check out our app on the App Store for more. Coming soon for Android.