LANSING, Mich. (WOWO) — A day away from school can sometimes give an overwhelmed child a chance to reset, but mental health experts say parents should be careful about making school avoidance a regular solution.
Dr. Emily Mudd, a psychologist with Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, says a mental health day can be appropriate when a child is feeling particularly overwhelmed by the demands of school or other circumstances at home.
That could include a child dealing with a heavy workload at school while also coping with family problems or other significant stress according to WILX News 10.
The goal of a mental health day, Mudd says, should be helping the child rest, reconnect with their family and return to school feeling recharged.
But simply staying home all day watching television or scrolling through social media may not accomplish that.
Mudd recommends that parents spend time with their child, talk with them about how they are feeling and participate in an activity the child enjoys.
The idea is to use the day intentionally rather than treating it as an extra day off from responsibilities.
For some children, however, taking a mental health day can become more complicated.
Mudd says children experiencing significant anxiety or who already have difficulty attending school may actually be harmed by repeated days away from the classroom.
“Where it kind of becomes nuanced is we know that for significant anxiety, or for children who have trouble going to school, or who are avoidant of school, taking a mental health day or repeated mental health days can actually impair their functioning,” Mudd said.
“And we know that can increase anxiety. So, it’s nuanced in knowing what it really looks like for your child specifically,” she said.
That’s why experts say parents should pay attention to patterns rather than looking at an individual day in isolation.
If a child occasionally needs a break after an unusually stressful period, that can be different from a child who regularly asks to stay home.
Mudd says repeated requests to miss school, including children coming up with reasons they cannot attend, should prompt parents to take a closer look at what is happening.
Rather than immediately approving another absence, parents may want to have a deeper conversation with their child about what is making school difficult.
That could involve academic pressure, social problems, bullying, anxiety, family circumstances or another issue the child may be struggling to communicate.
Mudd also recommends considering help from a mental health professional when a child’s school avoidance becomes persistent.
For parents, the key is finding a balance between recognizing when a child genuinely needs time to recover and making sure time away from school does not reinforce an underlying anxiety or avoidance problem.
A mental health day can provide an opportunity for a child to decompress, but experts say it should also be an opportunity for parents to check in, listen and understand what is driving the stress.
If staying home becomes a recurring request, that may be a sign the child needs more than a day off — and that addressing the underlying problem could be more important than simply taking another mental health day.
