Preparation helps kids avoid homesickness

A few simple steps can help prevent an intense form of homesickness, pediatricians say.

Up to 90 per cent of children attending camp feel some level of homesickness when they are away for the first time, research suggests. About one in 14 suffer an intense form that prevents them from eating or sleeping properlyand keeps them preoccupied with thoughts of home.

"For over 100 years, camps and schools have patted homesick children on the back, tried to keep them busy and hoped it would go away," said the study's lead author, Christopher Thurber, a staff psychologist at Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire.

"But research shows that it's healthier, and more effective, to think about prevention."

Coping strategies

In the January issue of the journal Pediatrics, Thurber and his co-author, Dr. Edward Walton,aprofessor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Michigan,offer tips for parentsto help prepare children for their stay away from home.

Their advice includes:

• Tell children that it is normal to feel homesick.
• Encourage them to write letters home, and supply pre-stamped, self-addressed envelopes.
• Provide practice time away from home, such as spending the nightwith a relative.
• Tell children to talk to staff such as camp counsellors if they feel homesick.
• Plot the time away on a calendar to give a child perspective on the length of the separation.
• Maintain useofmedicines prescribed for attention, behaviour or psychological conditions.

Homesicknesscan also hit when children go to the hospital or leave for post-secondary studies.

Janise Stone, an 18-year-old at Paine College in Augusta, Ga., said she would curl up and dream of her family in Indianapolis after attending lectures.

"I was so depressed," Stone said while at home for holidays. "I just kept thinking that if I slept through it, I'd eventually get back home."

Her reaction is typical of someone who has never spent a night away from home, the researchers said. Having low expectations about the new environment and little control over the situation are other warning signs, Thurber said.

"Parents and physicians want to have good guidelines for this sort of thing," said Richard Gallagher, director of the Parenting Institute at New York University's Child Study Center.

"This could give them ideas about coping strategies," added Gallagher, who was not part of the research.

Parents and pediatricians can work together to prepare children for separations, while camp directors, boarding school staff, hospital specialists and others can step in to treat homesickness, the study's authors said.