Welcome back to After School Tea Time! Take a look at what we’re spilling this week! We have questions from all over Connecticut, so grab your tea cups and get comfortable. This is the tea you don’t want to miss!

Question from New Haven County– There are a few children in our program who occasionally pick on the other children in the program. We have been able to resolve these situations for now but we are worried that this might turn into intense bullying. What can we do to prevent this from happening? 

Answer: Hey New Haven, thank you for sharing this. That sounds like a very tough situation. While you can’t tell how far the teasing will go for now, I think it’s great that you are trying to take preventative measures before things escalate. The first thing I would suggest is to have one-on-one conversations with the children in the program who are doing the teasing. Talk to them in a way that shows you’re concerned about them rather than making them feel like they are in trouble. Ask them how they would feel if someone teased them. I would also suggest talking to the children that are being teased and let them know that they have a support system and that they can always tell staff when incidents like this happen. If the teasing continues, I would suggest that you reach out to the parents of the children and explain what has been going on. The parents might have insight as to why their child is teasing other children. Check out this article to learn how parents can talk to their child about bullying. We hope that this helps!

Question from Fairfield County– Some children in our program have expressed that they are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of school work and homework assignments that they have been getting in their classes recently. They come to our program feeling very anxious and drained. How can we help them feel less stressed about their assignments? 

Answer: Hey Fairfield, this is a very important topic right now so thank you for sharing this. Many children have been expressing feeling overwhelmed by assignments due to being in-person again and schools making up for learning loss.

I would suggest helping the children in your program come up with a system that will allow them to get their assignments done, but also incorporate time for breaks and relaxation. I would suggest that you tell them to start with their smaller assignments or the assignments that take less time to do and then focus on their bigger assignments. If they are still feeling overwhelmed I would encourage you to talk to them about communicating with their teachers that they are having a hard time keeping up with assignments. Stress the importance of communication and how being honest about what is going on can actually be more beneficial to them then just letting the stress build up. 

You can read this article about how to help kids when they feel like they are experiencing burnout. You can also check out this article on how to disguise learning as fun if a child is having trouble with certain topics relating to their assignments. Good luck!

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