Beth Mattey, a school nurse of 27 years, has a few observations and a little advice when it comes to helping kids feel good in school, AmerianProfile reports.
A few of her observations:
- Nurses spend lots of time dealing with sadness in kids
- Headache is a common complaint, often related to dehydration
- Families keep too many secrets from school nurses
- Kids don’t eat well at school
- Parents don’t probe why kids need to take a day off
- Teens need vaccines, and teenage girls need special ones
We’ve dealt with some of these issues before (see here and here). Solutions to the other issues can be simple, such as making sure every kid carries a water bottle and remains well hydrated throughout the school day.
The problem isn’t that the solutions are unreachable, though; the problem is reaching parents when comes to putting those solutions in place. Kids will eat more nutritious meals, for example, if parents tell them about those nutritious meals and set good examples in the home.
And if kids need to take a day off of school because they’re under stress, parents need to get at the root cause of that stress: Bullying? Not finishing a homework assignment? A test? None of these escape proper treatment or action, but Ms Mattey said parents are often unaware of the underlying cause of kids’ stress.
Finally, a very common cause of headaches could be lack of sleep. This can also lead to other problems in the child’s life. Schools around the country are looking into the issue of adjusting school schedules to be more consistent with adolescent sleep patterns and needs, including schools in Maryland.
None of the districts in Maryland have adjusted high school start times yet, but a body of evidence continues to grow that would seem to support the need to make adjustments, including this anecdotal feedback from a experienced school nurse.
