My kids take unlimited mental health days off from school — they’re under so much stress today

Perfection isn’t a priority for mother-of-two Chevonne Dixon.

Sure, the Long Islander expects her kids, a 17-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, to do their best in school.

But when the daily grind becomes a bit too overwhelming for her honors students, the millennial mom grants them a mental health day away from the classroom so they don’t suffer burnout.

“I’m not worried about them having perfect attendance at school — show me one person who’s used their perfect attendance certificate as an adult,” Dixon, 39, a project manager from Nassau County, told The Post.

“Kids are under so much stress today,” continued the avant-garde head-of-house. “They’re managing school, homework, extracurricular activities, friends and the pressures of social media. It’s a lot.”

During one such recent mental health day in December, the passionate parent and her eighth-grade daughter enjoyed a mommy-and-me Ramen luncheon, garnering praise from commenters.

The Gen Alpha has taken three non-sick absences so far this year, and Dixon’s willing to let the responsible adolescent take as many more as she might need before graduating to the ninth grade in June.

It’s a tradition she introduced to her teens in January 2023 after noticing they’d become overworked — and so far, it’s not been an issue.

Some naysayers online have scoffed at her permissiveness, arguing that rugrats can rest on weekends. But Dixon’s tykes, like most youngsters of the day, spend Saturdays and Sundays at sports practices or Girl Scouts.

“Sometimes kids just need a break,” said Dixon, who chose not to publicly name her brood for privacy.

And the New Yorker’s time-out approach to parenting might be just what the doctor ordered.

A May 2023 survey of over 2,000 parents commissioned by teletherapy hub Presence determined that 66% of moms and dads have seen their children come home with “low mental batteries” after school, while half of the respondents noticed signs of stress and burnout in their little ones.

Fieldworkers from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, too, identified an increase in stress among the youth since the COVID-19 outbreak, per a separate study published in May.

The post-pandemic pressures to catch up on academic materials missed during lockdown, as well as the trauma of temporarily being displaced out of the classroom, spurred an uptick in anxiety, depression and irregular sleep patterns in students, according to the findings.

“Parental support is considered a protective factor against [these] psychosocial health difficulties,” noted the analysts. “Students who feel emotionally supported by their parents are less stressed by the demands of school and are less prone to burnout.”

Yamalis Diaz, a child and adolescent psychologist at NYU Langone Health, is in full support of these mommy-sanctioned respites, telling The Post that the mini-mental vacations teach kids to value their emotional and mental well-being as much as they do their physical health.

However, she urges parents to dole out the days off wisely.

“Mental health days can become detrimental if moms and dads are letting their kids take mental health days too frequently — in a way that impacts their schoolwork or required attendance,” explained the therapist. “If there’s an ongoing issue at school or with their workloads, parents should make sure that children aren’t using mental health days off to avoid the problems.”

“Mental health days should be a really good coping reset that recharges kids for success,” Diaz added.

And outraged parents of NYC clearly agree.

A band of disgruntled Gothamites fought for their tots’ right to relax when the Big Apple was blasted with 3.2 inches of snow on Feb. 13. Angry adults chided Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Education for attempting to enforce a remote-learning mandate on what would have historically been considered a bad weather pass for all-day play.

“I emailed the teachers and said, ‘[My son is] not doing the remote learning. He’s having a snow day,’” Deana Balahtsis-Thomas, 53, an Upper East Side mom-of-three and lawyer told The Post.

“We don’t take school lightly,” agreed Staten Island mom-of-two Veronica Gill Mannarino, 55. Rather than forcing her 12-year-old twins to log on for a lesson, she let the tweens frolic in the powder and eat pizza that Tuesday. “But I think there’s a time to let kids be kids.”

But beyond snow days, New Jersey mom Noel LaPalomento, 26, who allows her 6-year-old daughter to skip one school day per month during the 181-day academic year, virally defended her mothering tactics to The Post.

“She shouldn’t have to be sick to have a day off,” said the Gen Zer of her first grader.

And Kayla Lemanski, 30, a Pittsburgh mom to 6- and 9-year-old girls, echoed those sentiments. She’s even told haters on TikTok “go f- -k yourself” if they objected.

“My daughters are too young to understand what exactly ‘mental health’ means … But I can recognize the signs [of burnout] in my children,” she explained to The Post of her elementary schoolers.

The brunette’s twosome is allowed up to seven mental health days a year.

“Going to school five days a week for 8 hours is basically a full-time job,” added Lemanski. “Kids’ minds are extremely vulnerable and need to be nurtured with days solely dedicated to decompressing.”

Caitlin Fladager’s tots, Arianna, 10, and Jack, 8, are limited to two calls out of class per year. But in addition to snacking and relaxing, she has her kiddies engage in a little good, old-fashioned housekeeping to blow off some steam.

“We try to do one thing that makes their mental health feel a bit better such as clean their room, do their laundry, shower or knock off something on their to-do list,” said the 30-year-old lifestyle vlogger from Vancouver, Canada. “It really helps bring peace and clarity.”