I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.

~ From “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” screenwriters Jeffrey Price, Pete S. Seaman, and Gary K. Wolf. The pic is from dreamstime.com , bunny-cartoon-vector-hand-drawing-funny-painted-rabbit-carrot-paws-isolated-white-background-96733733.

Not all schools are closed. Not all students have gone out on the staycation that is causing consternation across the United States. Some kids are in school. But they are not immune to the barrage of apocalyptic news traversing cables and airwaves. Those kids with anxiety disorders? I guarantee many are spending hours on the precipice of a full-blown panic attack.

Those kids may escalate misbehaviors. Acting out is a distraction. Acting out can help you escape that fearful place inside your own head, leading you into more familiar territory — yet another talk with the teacher, dean or principal. For some kids right now, talking to the dean may seem infinitely preferable to thinking about scared parents or guardians trying to manage the toilet paper crisis.

Eduhonesty: Teachers are scared, students are scared, and scared has a way of sending some students off the rails. I suggest a mantra for teachers who are encountering unusual management challenges: At https://anxiety-gone.com/52-mantras-natural-anxiety-relief, you can find a favorite of your own. My mantra of choice has long been “just keep swimming.” I also like, “this is only temporary” — it’s good for these times and also for the moment when “George” decides to knock over his desk or toss his water bottle across the room. I’d share these mantras with students who are struggling.

I’ll add one more mantra of my own for the Georges and their classmates: “He’s not a bad rabbit. He’s just trying to draw himself that way.”

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