It’s that time of year: school’s country wide are opening their doors for a new year.

It can come as a welcome relief to parents after the long summer break, but it can cause anxiety in kids.

How does a parent cope with that?

Gwendoline Smith is a clinical psychologist, speaker, blogger and author.  She also works closely with the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland to provide guidance to school councillors.

Her book, The Book of Knowing was originally written for young people to help them understand the way we think and create resilience.

She told Lorna Subritzky that it is very natural for kids to have uncertainty about change.

“But a bit of uncertainty about change doesn’t equate to have an anxious child.”

Smith says that parents shouldn’t be too worried, as anxiety is just being uncomfortable and it can’t kill anyone.

She says that parents could easily teach children breathing techniques, which helps to re-stabilise them and distracts them from what they are worried about.

“The important thing to remember is that anxiety has a 37.3 per cent contribution from the genetics. Therefore, the kid with high trait anxiety, will be very easily startled, and when they’re startled, it freaks them out.”

Smith says that she learnt last year that a number of correspondence students are part of that system is because of anxiety.

She says that some correspondence teachers struggle with how to teach parents of these kids who think this is the best course of action for their children. Smith says more parents need to face up to the fear of these situations rather than fleeing from it.

“You only make the problem worse by saying ‘this is a terrible thing that happened to you, so what we’re going to take you out of mainstream life and wrap you in cotton wool at home.”

LISTEN TO GWENDONLINE SMITH TALK WITH LORNA SUBRITZKY ABOVE