In the past two years, the states passing bills allowing for mental health days include Arizona, Colorado, Illinois and Maine. Kansas and Missouri aren’t on that list, although K-State adopted a well-being day on April 16.
Children have been told for more than a year to avoid so many things. Family psychologist Wes Crenshaw explains that being thrust back into school can feel contradictory and create confusion and unease.
The challenge, Crenshaw points out, is determining if asking for a mental health day is based on a genuine fear or if it has become a convenient excuse to skip school.
He believes if kids are telling parents that everything is falling apart, everything is going wrong, they just need a day off, "Give them a day off because that is their life."
Crenshaw does caution that if these requests become more than a monthly experience then it may be time to view those as avoidance behavior that has become a habit.
- Wes Crenshaw, psychologist at Family Psychological Services, LLC
