When the Ground Shifts: Helping Kids Navigate Uncertainty
Hello friends and readers,
Fall is upon us! Crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and that amusing wardrobe juggling act we all know too well. Layers are lifesavers these days, especially when schools and outdoor programs still seize every nice-weather moment. But this season, there’s something heavier in the air: talk of a teachers’ strike.
As someone who works within the education system, I hold my own biases and passions. But I also know that many families are feeling uncertainty, stress, and even confusion right now. In this post, I want to use this moment as a springboard for talking with kids about big adult issues; especially when they sense changes but don’t quite know what to make of them.
1 | The Shift in Focus: From Fall Fun to Stress
Septembers usually brim with reminders about soccer, art classes, and Halloween fundraisers. But lately, our community conversations have pivoted. The teachers’ strike is pushing aside planning for fall programs and seeped into our collective emotional lives.
It’s important for parents to know: the strike is rarely at root about simple salary disputes. Yes, compensation matters. But more fundamentally, it’s about support; the supports teachers need to do their work well, and the supports students deserve to receive. Many educators feel stretched thin, under-resourced, underrecognized. When our teachers struggle, it’s not just their burden: the ripples reach into classrooms, into relationships, and into children’s sense of safety.
Kids deeply rely on connection: with teachers, support staff, principals, lunchroom staff, coaches, after-care providers. These “safe adults” scaffold the school ecosystem and anchor students’ emotional world. When that scaffolding is threatened or uncertain, children often pick up the emotional tremors even if they don’t know what’s happening at the policy level.
2 | How Do We Talk to Children About Big, Messy Adult Problems?
It’s tempting to shelter kids from “too much information,” or to paint everything as benign. But children are intuitive; they often sense more than we realize. Rather than hiding the issue, a more helpful path is guiding the conversation.
Here are some scaffolding ideas:
a) Let it emerge, and invite questions
Instead of launching a lecture, let the conversation open naturally. Perhaps your child notices a cancelled club, or hears adults talk. You can ask:
“What do you make of that?”
“What are your questions?”
“It sounds like you’re curious about this change. What do you know about it?”
This affirms their curiosity and helps you tune in to exactly what they understand or worry about.
b) Validate their feelings
“Wow, that’s confusing,” or “I hear that you’re worried,” or “It’s okay to feel upset or excited or frustrated”: these messages matter. Whether your child is hoping for extra days off or dreading chaos, their feelings are valid.
c) Answer at their level
For younger children: “School’s going to be a bit different for a while, but we’ll try our best to keep things steady.”
For older children: You can share simplified versions of the pressures teachers and school staff report (e.g. resources, workload, supports) and why teachers might feel pushed to strike.
Importantly: be honest about limits. “I don’t have all the answers yet, but I’ll share what I do know.”
d) Sit with discomfort and model emotional regulation
Let’s be real: this may stir anxiety, frustration, or even grief. It’s okay not to have all the words.
Tell your child:
“This makes me nervous too but I know that we are figuring it out.”
“Let’s take some deep breaths, talk it through, or draw how it feels.” Sometimes just having them vent, cry, or rant while you listen is powerful.
e) Watch for signs of overwhelm or worry
If your child starts having difficulties sleeping, frequent headaches or stomach aches, increased irritability, or withdrawal, these might be signals that the uncertainty is weighing heavily. In such cases, it could be helpful to loop in a school counsellor or a child mental health professional.
3 | Big Emotions ≠ Pathology
When children exhibit strong emotional reactions to change, it doesn’t automatically mean there’s a clinical issue. Our brains evolved to read uncertainty as potential danger. In times of ambiguity, anxiety is a natural alert system. In fact, there’s a useful conceptual framework in developmental science: positive / tolerable / toxic stress.
Positive stress: brief, manageable challenges (e.g. first day of school), buffered by caring support.
Tolerable stress: more serious events (e.g. family move, serious illness) that last longer, but occur within a supportive context so the child can recover.
Toxic stress: prolonged, intense stress in the absence of buffering relationships, which can shift brain architecture and negatively affect health long-term.
What’s most protective and what helps tilt stress from harmful toward tolerable, is a strong support network of dependable, caring adults. That’s our job as parents, caregivers, and educators: to be that relational buoy.
4 | The Difference Support Networks Make
When children face adversity (including ambiguous political or institutional stress), their outcomes are not predetermined. One of the strongest buffers is the availability of stable, responsive support systems. American Psychological Association+3chapinhall.org.
Key points:
Supportive relationships help “turn down the volume” on stress by providing reassurance, predictable routines, and co-regulation.
Even if the challenge is ongoing or systemic, knowing there are caring adults who see you, who listen, who protect makes a measurable difference.
Community-level supports (counselling, school-based mental health, peer groups) strengthen the scaffold.
A community culture where talking about stress, distress, uncertainty is not taboo, but instead normalized and empowers children to bring their questions forward.
In short: we can’t eliminate every stressor, but we can create relational buffers that help kids come through with resilience.
5 | Invitation & Reflection
This is a moment to lean into our roles as emotional co-navigators. We may not have all the answers, but our presence, and our consistency, curiosity and attunement is ultimately what matters.
Here’s a short prompt you might use for reflection or family conversation:
“What’s one thing that feels confusing or scary right now, and who in our lives helps you feel safe when things feel uncertain?”
If you’re comfortable, I’d love to hear from you: what questions are your children asking? What has or hasn’t helped when you offer explanations? Email us at info@nourish-wellness.ca
Thank you for being part of this community and for your care in raising children who can feel, question, recover, and grow.
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