 Coping with the Loss
of School Traditions
By Carey Jacobsen, Director of Clinical Services
As we enter Holiday Season, we are reminded again that this school year is so very different than any we have ever experienced. There will be no Snowball Dance, no Thanksgiving lunch with grandparents, no year-end Holiday Party with snacks and parent volunteers milling about. Semester exams look different, and every week there are adjustments to schools’ plans for virtual, in-person, and hybrid delivery. The change is constant.
Every teacher and parent knows the academic calendar is marked by firsts and lasts -- rituals that mark the passing of time and create structure to the year: First Day of School. Homecoming. Winter Concert. Prom and Graduation. When the pandemic began last March, many End of Year traditions were lost for the class of 2020. And with its continuation this fall, many of the firsts of the school year were lost as well.
This year, nothing looks like it has in the past, and that creates instability and pervasive feelings of unease. Time either feels like it has gone too fast or slowed way down; those markers of time are missing and throwing off our inner time clock and homeostasis.
A recent Mayo clinic article stated “the pandemic has had a major psychological impact, causing people to lose a sense of safety, predictability, control, freedom and security.” Students and teachers may experience these missed traditions as a painful loss, contributing to feelings of a depressed mood, lack of motivation, irritability and may increase general anxiety in an already heightened period.
Traditions create a sense of stability, of known expectations, expected experiences that are counted on and predictable. Without these, there is uncertainty and destabilization.
How can we change this? In SaintA's work with schools around the state as a partner and provider of school based mental health services, we recommend the strategies listed below.
Have thoughts of your own? We’d love to hear from you! Share what strategies your school community is using to keep traditions alive. Email me at cjacobsen@sainta.org with your best tips to share!
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