How Do I Prepare My Child for School?
How do I prepare my child for school? How can I ensure that his attitude towards school is positive?
Your child’s ability to start school peacefully depends primarily on your peace of mind. If you trust and believe in the school, the system and the teachers, your child will feel this too. If you don’t trust the school and you worry about your child and think they can’t do it, if you have difficulty leaving your child. Thus, you will make this experience very difficult for both you and your child. The confidence you will feel towards the school, the patience and determination you will show are key. It is also very important that everyone in the house supports this decision and shows the same attitude.
First of all, it is important that you inform your child before such important changes, what he can expect, what you will experience, why you are doing it. You can say that your child is grown now and deserves to start kindergarten to have a good time with his friends and to learn new good things and play games every day. It will make this experience more positive if your child sees school as a pleasant place where he/she deserves to go, rather than a place where he/she leaves school.
Describe school to your child as the place where his/her parents go to work, to learn new things from their teachers and play with their friends, but avoid exaggerated and unrealistic descriptions. It is important that the information is accurate so as not to create disappointment and distrust.
You can talk to your child about school at home. Allow your child to share their positive or negative thoughts and experiences with you and be open to it. But don’t question your child about school. You will be able to take your questions as clues and your prejudices about the school will be reflected on your child.
Never share negative opinions about the school or staff in front of your child. Do not share conversations about your child with the school administration or staff with your child.
Don’t make any connections between going to school and any rewards. Your child should come to school voluntarily, not because he thinks he will receive an award.
Many children who are dropped out of school cry until their parents leave, but they stop crying by participating in activities very soon after entering the school. This indicates that he has no anxiety about school but has separation anxiety.
Taking your child to school by a parent who has less anxiety about leaving also makes the separation process even easier. You are not leaving your child at school; You are doing a good thing for him to socialize and support his development in the preschool period. Be sure of this and pass it on to your child.
Clearly share information about when you will go to school, when you will pick her up, when you will be together after school every day, so she knows what to expect. Be sure to be there at the promised time so that you don’t have to worry.
Read fun books about kindergartens.
After such preparations, it will be much easier for your child to get used to school.
So, if my child has started school, what can I do to be compatible?
First of all, it is important that you behave calmly, decisively and consistently, and that you strive to ensure that the child adapts to the school in cooperation with the school. If your child refuses school, the attitude of any of the parents, grandparents, towards the child gives him strength and causes the child’s reaction to grow. Therefore, going to school is expected to be supported by all family members.
Some children may not want to go to school in the morning, may cry, say they have a stomachache or a headache, or refuse to eat breakfast. What needs to be done here is to be determined, not to give your child other options. Don’t think of it as coercion. We’re just talking about the necessity of school and the fact that your attitude should be clear that he will love it when he gets used to it. If you approach your child with a threatening or harsh attitude or compare him or her with others, it makes it difficult to solve the problem.
Your child should be told that you will not leave him at school, you should be informed that you will wait for him for a certain period of time, and you should definitely follow this promise. If your child has difficulty in adapting to school, it may be good to pay attention to the following points;
Waiting for a long time at school creates the feeling that your child can leave school at any time. Therefore, as a parent, it is not appropriate for you to wait at school all the time. Your child, who has adjustment problems, often asks, “I wonder what is going on at home, what are my friends doing, what is my brother doing?” He thinks about such questions and worries. As a parent, it is important to put your child at ease.
The disciplined and regulated environment of the school can bore some children. The child, whose every request is fulfilled at home and who does not recognize the rules, may feel alienated from school and seek the home environment when he sees that these wishes are not met at school. Therefore, it may be good to familiarize the child with some rules at home. Remember that giving your children a sense of self-confidence is not unlimited freedom; it is by giving them a freedom that can be tolerated at this age and the limits of which are defined in a safe way.