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School Avoidance - Practical Steps for Parents to Support a Struggling Child

February 21, 2025

Any of us who attended school remember the need for a day off. We needed the weekends and holiday breaks. Sometimes we may have pretended to be a little more sick than we actually were, or asked our parents for a "mental health" day. This is typical behavior for a school-aged child, but this is not school avoidance.

School avoidance is not a diagnosis per se, but a pattern of persistent difficulty attending or remaining in school. It is characterized by severe emotional distress and may manifest in physical symptoms like stomach aches or headaches. If you are a parent of a child with school avoidance, you’re probably familiar with this scene: It’s Monday morning and getting late. Your child has not emerged from their bedroom. You may call their name to get up. Maybe you text them: “UP?” No response. You enter their room and see they haven’t even gotten out of bed. You know they won’t make it to school.

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