August 7, 2025 • 9 mins
School begins Monday around the Tampa Bay area. We speak with psychologist Jennifer Katzenstein PhD of Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg about getting children (and parents) through anxiety and restoring routines. Dr. Katzenstein is director of Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Social Work at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, and co-director of the hospital's Center for Behavioral Health.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. It's back to
school time again, with most counties that are close to
us going back on Monday, August the eleventh. The new
school year, of course, is a time of transition and
getting back into routines. And we speak again with doctor
Jennifer Katzenstein, PhD. She's a psychologist and director of behavioral
health at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg.
(00:23):
She's joining us to talk about how to manage those
changes if you have someone of school age in the household.
Dr Katzenstein, welcome again to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thanks so much, Gordon, so grateful and happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
One of the big changes, of course that students are
going through is the ones who are going from middle
school to high school, and maybe it's a bigger transition
now than it used to be. What are you hearing
about some of the challenges with that transition and what
are you recommending to parents and families.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, there's been a lot of challenges as we head
back into the school year, some of the typical ones
that we expect every year, having a summer that's a
lot of fun, and maybe not having the same routines
that we have in the school year, getting our summer
work done in time to get back to school, as
well as just those back to school jitters that I
think we all remember. But times have changed in terms
(01:12):
of access to technology and even having access to a
locker place to put your things during the day, and
so some of the biggest challenges I see for the
teens going back to school are really thinking about how
to utilize that time in between classes. What does it
look like for textbooks? Are they all electronic? Are they
in paper? Do they even have a locker to put
(01:33):
things anymore? And then how are they just getting around
that scheduling and fitting in all of the expectations that
they have for themselves and others have for them, Thinking
about the future and what that means and everything they
have to do now in their high school years to
feel prepared for whatever comes next.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And that kind of brings up a little bit of
a side track if we want to talk about it here,
and that is that the idea of time management. This
is a time in their life where they're learning how
to manage time. And of course adults have been using programs,
using software, using phones now to manage time since forever,
(02:11):
since they became adults. And what do you see as
the challenges of getting our young particularly middle schoolers high
schoolers as they're making those transitions where they're expected to
manage more of their day, about getting them into the
routine of just being aware of what's going on, when
(02:33):
and when they need to do things.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, that can be such a challenge, especially for those
of us as parents who have been playing that primary
role and setting up the day and having those routines
and schedules, and it can be really hard to start
to let go of that and let especially our teens
take more of that autonomy and their daily routine and
also their time management. So it really depends on the
specific student and the caregiver that's working with them. So
(02:58):
whenever possible, if we can get of our teens more
autonomy in developing that schedule, sharing with us when things
are happening at school, when activities are happening, that they
want to participate in athletic events, giving them that autonomy,
having a centralized family calendar so that all that information
can be stored in one place and just looked at
(03:19):
at a glance, but then also not micromanaging as parents
and caregivers are kids, and so making sure that if
there is a big project coming up, we're setting that
boundary with ourselves to remind them and help them maybe
break down that big project into managable steps with a timeline.
But we're trying to let them again take that independence,
(03:40):
so then taking a step.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Back and not being on top of them about it,
not quote unquote nagging them about it, and then also
making sure that we are allowing them to experience the
logical consequence if that doesn't get done of getting whatever
grade or whatever impact.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
That has.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
One of the big challenges, of course, in as you
move into that age group is dealing with balancing school
and social life. And I'm sure it's a lot more
difficult now that phones and social media are playing a role.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Completely and sometimes that helps, right. I think that there's
great opportunities with our contacts on our devices, group work
becomes so much easier than we might remember it, being
able to contact one another, check in on what's happening,
utilizing our kids know about all sorts of apps when
it comes to homework management and managing challenging projects or
(04:33):
even just group projects. But also there's a social pressures
that come along with that, and also that access to
constant information, whether it's positive or negative, and so helping
our kids to really understand social media communicating with one another,
treating each other with kindness, whether that's in person or
(04:53):
on your device. But also I think being a good
digital media citizen, having good to media literacy also means
understanding the algorithms behind the social media device social media
platforms that we use. That information is going to be
presented to you, that could be marketing to you. And
I think the younger that we can start those conversations
(05:14):
about ads about how you watch a video and it
leads to more video about that same topic. We can
really help our kids understand that and see past kind
of that information that's just directly in front of them.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
One of Over the last year or so, we've seen
changes come in, particularly with the law and the legal
system as far as what's allowed as far as phone
use in schools in different grades. Have you noticed any
different as those rules and laws have started to come in.
Have you noticed, for example, more of a development of
(05:50):
social skills or in person social skills or more resourcefulness
when it comes to kind of the in person aspect
of of life for our young people today.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
One of the biggest things I've heard from students and
teens is when they put their phones away, whether that's
in their locker or they're not allowed to have them
at school at all, they actually experience a little bit
of anxiety in the first couple days, and then they
feel a sense of relief. It's almost like it's not there,
it can't be there. They don't have to feel that
urge to check it, and they then have the opportunity
(06:24):
to really engage in more in person experiences and conversations
and social interactions. If you think about it, for all
of us, if we're in an uncomfortable situation nowadays, the
first thing that we might tend to do is pull
out our phone and look at it or do something
on it, just so that you have a distraction and
you look engaged, so you don't have to engage socially
(06:44):
with others. And so if you take that opportunity away
from our kids to either engage with one another digitally
or distract themselves from what's happening in front of them,
then you give them the opportunity to really be able
to engage in person and it really reinforce that there
are some fantastic benefits to the devices that our kids have,
(07:05):
and that a moderate use of a device of social
media with a pairing of activities outside going outside the
home to do things is protective against mental health. So
there really is a sweet spot there for social media
use in the literature. But it's also as parents monitoring
that really closely and having those conversations with our schools
(07:28):
so that we clearly know what the expectation is during
the school day.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Matter of being present one before we wrap it up here,
is there any one area that we haven't covered that
you'd like to really zero in on for parents looking
for advice for getting back into the back to school routine.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah. Absolutely. One of the things that's hit me personally
so hard as a parent and as a psychologist in
the past couple weeks has been that my son's not
just modeling me, He's reflecting my behavior. So as we
head into the new school and I'm starting to feel
myself get a little bit you know, anxious or wound
up about getting back into the routine, how is that
(08:06):
going to work? Sometimes I feel relieved to get him
back into school, just from a childcare perspective. I am
really trying to model my good coping skills and how
I manage my time, how I cope with my anxiety
so that he can hopefully reflect that and start to
see what I'm doing, And whenever possible, I'm talking to
him about it and being very open about what's happening
(08:28):
related to school, what's happening in my head related to
his device use. He needs to get a summer homework
packet done and hasn't done it yet, So really just
thinking about how my behavior is reflected in our kids,
any of our kids as caregivers, and how we can
make sure that we're preparing them with strong coping skills.
I think that's huge.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All good to know, good perspective. Doctor Jennifer Katzenstein, PhD,
psychologist and director of Behavioral health at Johns Hopkins Oll
Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg, joining us to talk about
the upcoming school year and getting to the back to
school routine once again. Jennifer Catzenstein, thank you very much
for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Thanks Gordon
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. It's back to
school time again, with most counties that are close to
us going back on Monday, August the eleventh. The new
school year, of course, is a time of transition and
getting back into routines. And we speak again with doctor
Jennifer Katzenstein, PhD. She's a psychologist and director of behavioral
health at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg.
(00:23):
She's joining us to talk about how to manage those
changes if you have someone of school age in the household.
Dr Katzenstein, welcome again to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thanks so much, Gordon, so grateful and happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
One of the big changes, of course that students are
going through is the ones who are going from middle
school to high school, and maybe it's a bigger transition
now than it used to be. What are you hearing
about some of the challenges with that transition and what
are you recommending to parents and families.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, there's been a lot of challenges as we head
back into the school year, some of the typical ones
that we expect every year, having a summer that's a
lot of fun, and maybe not having the same routines
that we have in the school year, getting our summer
work done in time to get back to school, as
well as just those back to school jitters that I
think we all remember. But times have changed in terms
(01:12):
of access to technology and even having access to a
locker place to put your things during the day, and
so some of the biggest challenges I see for the
teens going back to school are really thinking about how
to utilize that time in between classes. What does it
look like for textbooks? Are they all electronic? Are they
in paper? Do they even have a locker to put
(01:33):
things anymore? And then how are they just getting around
that scheduling and fitting in all of the expectations that
they have for themselves and others have for them, Thinking
about the future and what that means and everything they
have to do now in their high school years to
feel prepared for whatever comes next.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And that kind of brings up a little bit of
a side track if we want to talk about it here,
and that is that the idea of time management. This
is a time in their life where they're learning how
to manage time. And of course adults have been using programs,
using software, using phones now to manage time since forever,
(02:11):
since they became adults. And what do you see as
the challenges of getting our young particularly middle schoolers high
schoolers as they're making those transitions where they're expected to
manage more of their day, about getting them into the
routine of just being aware of what's going on, when
(02:33):
and when they need to do things.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, that can be such a challenge, especially for those
of us as parents who have been playing that primary
role and setting up the day and having those routines
and schedules, and it can be really hard to start
to let go of that and let especially our teens
take more of that autonomy and their daily routine and
also their time management. So it really depends on the
specific student and the caregiver that's working with them. So
(02:58):
whenever possible, if we can get of our teens more
autonomy in developing that schedule, sharing with us when things
are happening at school, when activities are happening, that they
want to participate in athletic events, giving them that autonomy,
having a centralized family calendar so that all that information
can be stored in one place and just looked at
(03:19):
at a glance, but then also not micromanaging as parents
and caregivers are kids, and so making sure that if
there is a big project coming up, we're setting that
boundary with ourselves to remind them and help them maybe
break down that big project into managable steps with a timeline.
But we're trying to let them again take that independence,
(03:40):
so then taking a step.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Back and not being on top of them about it,
not quote unquote nagging them about it, and then also
making sure that we are allowing them to experience the
logical consequence if that doesn't get done of getting whatever
grade or whatever impact.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
That has.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
One of the big challenges, of course, in as you
move into that age group is dealing with balancing school
and social life. And I'm sure it's a lot more
difficult now that phones and social media are playing a role.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Completely and sometimes that helps, right. I think that there's
great opportunities with our contacts on our devices, group work
becomes so much easier than we might remember it, being
able to contact one another, check in on what's happening,
utilizing our kids know about all sorts of apps when
it comes to homework management and managing challenging projects or
(04:33):
even just group projects. But also there's a social pressures
that come along with that, and also that access to
constant information, whether it's positive or negative, and so helping
our kids to really understand social media communicating with one another,
treating each other with kindness, whether that's in person or
(04:53):
on your device. But also I think being a good
digital media citizen, having good to media literacy also means
understanding the algorithms behind the social media device social media
platforms that we use. That information is going to be
presented to you, that could be marketing to you. And
I think the younger that we can start those conversations
(05:14):
about ads about how you watch a video and it
leads to more video about that same topic. We can
really help our kids understand that and see past kind
of that information that's just directly in front of them.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
One of Over the last year or so, we've seen
changes come in, particularly with the law and the legal
system as far as what's allowed as far as phone
use in schools in different grades. Have you noticed any
different as those rules and laws have started to come in.
Have you noticed, for example, more of a development of
(05:50):
social skills or in person social skills or more resourcefulness
when it comes to kind of the in person aspect
of of life for our young people today.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
One of the biggest things I've heard from students and
teens is when they put their phones away, whether that's
in their locker or they're not allowed to have them
at school at all, they actually experience a little bit
of anxiety in the first couple days, and then they
feel a sense of relief. It's almost like it's not there,
it can't be there. They don't have to feel that
urge to check it, and they then have the opportunity
(06:24):
to really engage in more in person experiences and conversations
and social interactions. If you think about it, for all
of us, if we're in an uncomfortable situation nowadays, the
first thing that we might tend to do is pull
out our phone and look at it or do something
on it, just so that you have a distraction and
you look engaged, so you don't have to engage socially
(06:44):
with others. And so if you take that opportunity away
from our kids to either engage with one another digitally
or distract themselves from what's happening in front of them,
then you give them the opportunity to really be able
to engage in person and it really reinforce that there
are some fantastic benefits to the devices that our kids have,
(07:05):
and that a moderate use of a device of social
media with a pairing of activities outside going outside the
home to do things is protective against mental health. So
there really is a sweet spot there for social media
use in the literature. But it's also as parents monitoring
that really closely and having those conversations with our schools
(07:28):
so that we clearly know what the expectation is during
the school day.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Matter of being present one before we wrap it up here,
is there any one area that we haven't covered that
you'd like to really zero in on for parents looking
for advice for getting back into the back to school routine.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah. Absolutely. One of the things that's hit me personally
so hard as a parent and as a psychologist in
the past couple weeks has been that my son's not
just modeling me, He's reflecting my behavior. So as we
head into the new school and I'm starting to feel
myself get a little bit you know, anxious or wound
up about getting back into the routine, how is that
(08:06):
going to work? Sometimes I feel relieved to get him
back into school, just from a childcare perspective. I am
really trying to model my good coping skills and how
I manage my time, how I cope with my anxiety
so that he can hopefully reflect that and start to
see what I'm doing, And whenever possible, I'm talking to
him about it and being very open about what's happening
(08:28):
related to school, what's happening in my head related to
his device use. He needs to get a summer homework
packet done and hasn't done it yet, So really just
thinking about how my behavior is reflected in our kids,
any of our kids as caregivers, and how we can
make sure that we're preparing them with strong coping skills.
I think that's huge.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All good to know, good perspective. Doctor Jennifer Katzenstein, PhD,
psychologist and director of Behavioral health at Johns Hopkins Oll
Children's Hospital in Saint Petersburg, joining us to talk about
the upcoming school year and getting to the back to
school routine once again. Jennifer Catzenstein, thank you very much
for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Thanks Gordon
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