School anxiety in Lebanese children, and how parents can help

Every September, a new wave of children walks into my consulting room with the same complaint dressed in different words: "I have a stomach ache." "I don't want to go." "The teacher hates me." Behind each sentence sits the same engine, anxiety.

School anxiety in Lebanese children today is layered. There is the universal anxiety of separation and performance. And there is the very Lebanese layer, the inherited stress of parents living through compounded crises, the broken sleep, the kitchen-table conversations a child should not have to overhear.

What can a parent do tonight? First, lower the volume of your own nervous system. Children co-regulate; they cannot calm down in a household that hasn't. Second, ask short questions: "What was the hardest part of today?" Then listen without fixing. Third, respect the body. A stomach ache is not a lie, it is anxiety speaking through the only language a child sometimes has.

Therapy helps when the pattern is sticky. CBT teaches a child that thoughts are not facts, that feelings pass, that effort is more honest than perfection. Most school anxiety, treated early, resolves beautifully. Reach out before it calcifies.

— Dr. Nicole Hani