IndigenousSome say traditional medicines and practices can help parents and students ease into the new school year. Advice includes traditional medicines, foods and connecting to natureCandace Maracle · CBC News · Posted: Sep 05, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoSateiokwen Bucktooth runs Snipe Clan Botanicals a company that offers products made with locally grown and harvested plant medicines. They also have a back to school kit. (Submitted by Sateiokwen Bucktooth)Some say traditional medicines and practices can help parents and students ease into the new school year. Kawennontie Martin, who is Kanienkehá:ka from Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, is a holistic educator and mother of seven.As a certified Waldorf teacher, she said she sees a lot of parallels in that educational approach and Haudenosaunee teachings in child development. Martin said proper sleep hygiene for children should be prioritized.Martin said she recommends starting a bedtime ritual at least an hour before sleep, one that could include a bath, reading or one-on-one engagement that does not include electronic devices.She said electronics “stimulate the mind and it’s hard for children’s minds to shut down, to have that restful night.”Media saturation, Martin said, also affects a child’s imagination and ability to self-regulate and have healthy social relationships. “I’m not saying take them straight away because I would never see that, because electronics, they’re in our face everywhere,” Martin said.But she said caregivers should be “mindful of what the children are engaged in.”She said her best back-to-school practices begin with a traditional diet of wholesome foods like seasonal corn, beans and squash, nuts and seeds, and wild rice, all of which she said have an effect on mental clarity and the immune system. Kawennontie Martin is a holistic educator and mother of seven. She said sleep hygiene and establishing routines are best practices for kids going back to school. (Submitted by Kawennontie Martin)Traditional practices also include a morning ritual. “Their mental wellness starts with going outside every morning and developing a relationship to Mother Earth and the sun. It’s giving thanks,” she said.”Make it a daily ritual. Mother Earth has so much healing energy for us and she can ground us, even with kids that are having anxiety.”Martin said back to school anxiety is normal and it can even be their “friend” by helping a child better understand their emotions. Fighting virusesSateiokwen Bucktooth, a traditional ecological knowledge teacher from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, on the Ontario-Quebec-New York state border, runs Snipe Clan Botanicals that makes products with locally grown and harvested plant medicines, like elderberry syrup.”Elderberry is really high in antioxidants and helps to support a healthy immune system,” said Bucktooth. Elderberry syrup, she said, can be used to support the body when a child feels the onset of illness.Sateiokwen Bucktooth’s company Snipe Botanicals makes wellness kits. (Submitted by Sateiokwen Bucktooth)She combines the elderberry syrup with chaga mushrooms harvested from birch trees, which she said also contain medicinal properties. She said she got her daughter’s taste buds acquainted with teas and medicines early in life, so now she enjoys the taste of them and will know to ask for them if she needs to. She is starting kindergarten this year.She said she also uses purple coneflower (or echinacea) because both the flower and elderberry contain antiviral compounds and help boost the immune system.”I like to use our plant medicines because they tend to be a little bit gentler on our systems and especially for our youth,” she said, who are “more prone to getting sick because they’re around other kids.”Bucktooth said the teas in her kits also include medicines considered nervines — herbs that support the central nervous system, restore balance, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep — like chamomile, catnip and passionflower.”We can get a little bit anxious as we’re coming up to the first day of school, whether it’s a new teacher, a new classroom, a whole new school, all new friends, if you’re going into your first day of school,” she said.”That transition from having a great summer, all of a sudden we need to be up early and back to a structured classroom so there can be a lot of anxiousness and worries tied to that start.”ABOUT THE AUTHORCandace Maracle is Wolf Clan from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. She is a laureate of The Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Award. Her latest short film, “Tsi ní:yoht yonkwayentá:’on ne óhses” (How We Got Maple Syrup) is completely in the Kanien’kéha language.
Haudenosaunee traditional practices offer tips for back to school stress
