It’s Time For Your Child To Start School!

June 25, 2009 by  
Filed under Parenting

Little children who have already been to preschool will find school less daunting than those who have never been to preschool. In any case, school is quite different form preschool. Combined with this is the sad fact that most public schools aren’t geared to provide the ideal education to your child through factors such as the lack of funding, bureaucratic problems, unhealthy philosophies of teaching and other external factors.

Whether your child is joining a public school or a private one, there are plenty of things you’ll need to get done in time for the start of school. A lot of children, as well as their parents, tend to feel some separation anxiety. While you don’t have to hold a ‘stiff upper lip’, you also don’t have to make it sound like the end of the world. Kids pick up vibes easily, so you really shouldn’t be stressing them anymore than they already are.

If you tell them honestly that this new experience will be quite difficult but they have to be brave, they’ll thank you forever. Children should be shown that the new environment isn’t a threat to them, taking into account all their concerns.

It really helps kids when they meet the new teacher beforehand, in the presence of the parents. This enables them to know the one person who will be in charge of their development, as well as understand that their parents like the teacher. Generally, schools do have some events for these introductions. However, don’t expect the session to last long, since the teacher will have to meet many other parent-child groups too.

Explaining to the kids that schools are fun and exciting, and that they’ll be grown up if they attend will do the trick. Show them your own pictures as a child going to school and you’ll have your kids wanting to do the same! Children are, by nature, curious creatures! Try to make it seem that school is just like the home learning process. This will increase your child’s confidence and they’ll want to go to school to learn and explore new things.

Most schools give the kids some homework a few days after they’ve begun. This can lead to anxiety on the part of the child. It is up to you to relieve this anxiety by giving your child a home version of homework before school starts to help them prepare for it! This will build confidence, especially when you as a parent show your child that you’re willing to help them get started!

Try not to give your child too much comfort! Allow your child to experience the difficulties and try to overcome them by themselves. This will lead to an increase in the self-confidence of the child. If you try to help all the time, you’re going to do more harm than good. This will create insecurity in the children, who will feel that they cannot get anything done by themselves.

Showing more parental concern than usual may imply to the child that there is something to be feared in school, which is completely not the idea that parents want their kids to have.

At the basic level, all aspects of human development need some type of challenge to build strength. This is true for both physical and mental development. And when the child rises to these challenges, given the nature of the child, his or her improvement, confidence and intellect growth will have no bounds!