The new school year is in full swing, but what if your child’s experience has not started out successfully?Genevieve from Future Kids tells us how to encourage kids to love school.
Q.) What do I do if my child has a bad first week and doesn’t want to return?
A.) The first week of school can be a make or break moment, and if your child has a negative experience it is important to get to the bottom of why. The classroom teacher will be able to give you some feedback on the specifics of your child’s experience. Some children will react negatively to the first week because it is a big change to their routine, and they will do their best to try to get you to allow them to go back to their old familiar and comfortable routine. This is usually in the form of crying tantrums, refusal to let you leave the class room etc. Most school have protocols in place to help make this transition as smooth as possible, so as much as you can, stick to school policy, make a good connection with the teacher so they will keep you updated, and slowly, slowly your little one will learn to love school!
Q.) I’ve received reports that my child has been uncooperative and unruly in class. How do I handle this?
A.) This can be difficult to handle as one person’s ‘unruly’ is another person’s ‘creative’. It is OK for your child to have a larger than life personality, but it is not OK for them to disrupt other children’s learning. Establish exactly what is going on and talk to your child about their behaviour. You may have a policy of never saying ‘no’ in your household, but at school, and in the world in general, there are certain rules that need to be observed. This is part of your child’s education and you need to find a way to make your child understand this. So at the risk of sounding like a broken record, talk to your child!
As your child becomes more familiar with the very structured environment of school, they will become more comfortable with operating within those boundaries and generally speaking their behaviour should settle down.
If you have any questions you would like us to ask the experts then email us at emirateswoman@motivate.ae, with Parenting in the subject
