A recent study has found that 61.7% of children believe that having a calm weekend with their family to look forward to after their first week back would make them feel better about going back to school. The research, conducted by children’s wellbeing platform Super Chill, also found that 69.6% of parents believe their child needs more downtime than usual during the first week back, and 68.6% believe that knowing they had a calm first weekend together would help their child feel less worried about returning to school.
These findings come as children across the country make their way through the first full week of the new school year, after weeks of preparation for their return. However, the adjustment does not necessarily end once children are through the school gates. More than half of children (53.8%) worry about having new teachers, while 38% worry about not knowing what to expect and over a third (36.6%) worry about the change in routine. Additionally, among children who usually feel worried about going back to school, nearly four in ten (38.4%) experience feelings of sadness or upset, 37.5% have trouble sleeping, and 27.2% experience stomach aches.
Parents are also feeling the pressure, with 62.2% admitting to hiding their own worries about the new school year from their child. More than half (54.7%) say they worry about the new school year as much as their child does, and six in ten (60%) say the first week back is the most stressful for them.
In response to these pressures, Super Chill has launched “Soft Landing September,” encouraging families to take some of the pressure off while children settle back into school. With the first full week now underway, the platform is asking families to make Saturday, September 12th a “Soft Landing Saturday,” leaving a little more breathing space after five full days back instead of feeling pressure to immediately fill the weekend with plans. The goal is not to cancel everything or create a perfectly calm household, but to recognize that children may need more space than usual while they adjust to early mornings, full school days, new teachers, friendships, and routines. This could mean a slower morning, leaving part of the weekend unscheduled, going for a walk, watching a film together, or simply creating an opportunity to ask children how they are feeling about being back at school.
Geert Pelsma, Managing Director of Super Chill, stated, “We spend a lot of time thinking about how children feel before they go back to school, but far less about how they feel once they are actually back. What stood out to us in this research is that children themselves are telling us something very simple. Nearly two thirds say having a calm weekend with their family to look forward to would make them feel better about going back.”
Soft Landing September is designed to encourage families to create small pockets of breathing space throughout the month as children adjust to being back at school. Super Chill is a free, ad-free well-being platform for children aged 6-12, designed to help them understand their emotions and provide them with simple tools to manage them. The app includes emotional check-ins and short exercises around breathing, movement, mindfulness, and relaxation that children can use when they feel overwhelmed.
