Being 'homesick' - Tips for kids

You are so excited... You are going to visit your friend and sleep over, or going on holiday with them.  You cannot wait to get away from your own house, but then not long after you leave, you start missing your own house and parents a lot.  

You are 'homesick'.

                               Lets have a look at what it means and what you can do about it.

Being away from home can scare some kids or make them feel very alone.  They miss their own bed and stuff and stop enjoying their visit with their friends or being on a camp.

When you are homesick it does not mean you are always physically sick, you just feel sad and may even cry, but some kids can feel so sad and scared and alone that they end up having headaches or tummy aches.

You do not have to feel ashamed if you want to go home, or leave the party earlier or never end up sleeping over.  There is nothing wrong with you and believe it or not, a lot of people have felt this way, even adults.

You are use to certain things and sounds at your own house, so being at a new place will take some getting use too an you can be afraid that you will not be able to sleep or you will not like the way the other people do things.

Thankfully there are a few things that you can do to help you feel less 'homesick'.

1. If you are going away on camp or a holiday without your parents, take things with you that reminds you of your home.  Things like photos or your own pillow or your favorite pj's.  When you feel lonely, you can look at it or hold it and remind yourself that people are waiting for you at home.
2. If you sit around and do nothing besides sulking, you will even feel worse.  You must keep yourself busy.  If you are at a camp, take part in the activities or go and swim with your friends.  The more you do, the less time you will have to feel sad.
3. Make sure you phone or message your parents at least once a day - you do not have to be glued to your phone, but it is nice to share your experiences with them and just check in or hear their voices.
4. Do not be ashamed of yourself.  It will help to talk to someone about your feelings.  You can maybe tell your friend and you can decide to do something fun.  If anybody ever teases you about it, you can be quite sure that they are also feeling homesick, they just do not want to admit it, so they will rather try and make others feel bad.

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Some kids just really do have a problem with being away from home.  No matter how hard they try, they stay sad and scared.  If you are one of them you would want to tell your parents about it, that they are aware of it and will not expect you to go away for long times.

You can practice being away from home for short periods of time like an hour or two an then the more comfortable you feel, the longer you can stay away.  Do not just jump in and try and stay away from home for a week.  We are all different and some of us just prefer not to be away from our home and that is fine.

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