How to prioritize your child's mental health amid a delayed return to school

With schools across the country delaying students' return to the classroom, experts are suggesting parents prepare their kids with coping strategies to deal with ongoing pandemic-related stressors that may be impacting their mental well-being.

Child psychiatrist and parenting author Dr. Shimi Kang said the delayed return to in-person learning, due to the Omicron variant, has parents and children once again facing a school semester of uncertainty, creating stress and anxiety around the impact of remote learning on a child's education, as well as their overall development.

"This is one more additional stressor on top of obviously 20 months of stress, and also though, on top of what was clearly very concerning trends in children's mental health, even pre-pandemic," Kang said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca on Monday.

Kang, who has her own practice in Vancouver, said the recent closures or delaying of school in various provinces is continuing to put children’s mental health at risk, with many students attending school virtually and having limited access to extracurricular activities.

Not only can learning be difficult online, Kang said, but learning "in the context of relationships" can be even more challenging through a computer screen.