As Grade 6 – 11 families prepare for the upcoming China Studies Field Trips, WAB Counselors offer parents a few tips on homesickness. They suggest for parents to discuss an upcoming separation with their children as a healthy and effective way to help ease, and even prevent, natural feelings of missing home.
• Assure students that homesickness is a normal reaction to being away from home. Suggest strategies for coping with feelings of missing home, such as writing letters to family members, sharing their feelings with others, and meditating on the positive aspects of their experience of being away from home.
• Encourage kids to make friends with others and seek out trusted adults for making connections.
• Before the separation, avoid making anxious comments, such as “I hope you'll be okay” or “what will I do without you,” which can leave children worried that something bad might happen to them or their parents.
• Use a calendar to show the child how long he or she will be away. This helps give the child perspective.
• Don't make a "pick up plan" to bring children home if they don't like the experience of being away. This undermines the student's sense that their parents have confidence in their ability to be on their own, and sets an expectation that they won't like the new experience.
All in all separations from home can be great "life training" experiences for students, building their independence and teaching self-reliance and social skills that they'll use throughout life. (Selections from: www.campparents.org)