Tips to help children cope with their schooling
When the little ones enter the first grade of school, What should parents and mothers do so that the child can organize and fulfill this new stage?
The entrance to the school generates many mixed feelings for both parents and children in the house. Both can feel joy and enthusiasm and, suddenly, they can experience moments of nostalgia and concern for new changes.
How to help children to be positive in the new stage in school?
Among the typical reactions that are presented is the crying and the attachment to the father or the mother to not stay in the educational center. Although the child is enthusiastic preparing their materials during the days before the start of the school year, the day they have to start school and enter the center, they cry and do not want their parents to leave .
Generally, the schools collaborate so that the adaptation process is easy and pleasant for the family, however it will depend a lot on the management that the family nucleus makes to facilitate or complicate the new stage that is about to begin.
Some tips to facilitate the new reality for children
Therefore, we consider it important to provide a series of recommendations to help them in this great step without generating greater fears in the small and, above all, to guide the parents:
1. If possible, allow the child to know (15 days before) the school (including the classroom) in which you will receive lessons, as well as the teacher.
2. One week before the start of classes, start raising the child at a time close to the one that must be done in classes , to get used to it. The children, during the first week and for the illusion that makes them go to school, many times, do it without any problem, but once the first week they begin to present problems in this aspect. The children require an approximate eight hours a day to rest.
3. Keep at home, in a conspicuous place, a large planner or calendar to record homework , jobs and commitments that must be made per day, using drawings or stickers so that the child can identify it.
4. Homework must be assigned at home according to the age of three months before the start of school , so that when he is in school he can assume the ones assigned by the teaching team. It is also advisable to have schedules in the house of meals, snacks, games, breaks and fulfillment of these duties, etc.
5. Establish a daily study routine to complete tasks from the first week ; Even when you are not on exams it is important to review, for a time that does not exceed thirty minutes a day. It is important for the child to rest, feed, and then perform the homework.
6. Label the materials before the start of the school year , with the name of the child and indicate the importance of taking care of them and keeping them in their proper place, as well as the consequences in case of losing them frequently.
7. Cultivate in the child the routine of enrolling their materials and belongings to go to school , starting by cleaning the shoes (activity that can be done together with the father when he is ready to dress his own clothes), prepare the briefcase with the notebooks, so that it is not the parents who assume the responsibility in this task. It is important to have the materials prepared a day before to make sure you have everything you need.
8. To help with the previous point, the father or mother can write down the materials (extras) that you are requesting at school and then attend together (father / mother and child) to get them or make them if necessary, but always making it clear to the child that it is their responsibility. Parents can use a specific notebook to communicate with the teacher, which the child will always carry with him and the parents will always check it.
9. Teach and allow the child to cover or decorate their notebooks and identify them by matter in such a way that the child recognizes them.
10. Stimulate in the student the order and cleanliness in notebooks, materials and bulk . Example: all the sheets must be stuck in the respective notebooks, and those sheets that do not correspond to any material are kept in a folder for that purpose. We must ensure that the notebooks keep orderly, complete and corrected by the teacher.
11. Maintain constant communication with the teacher to ascertain the school's activities : meetings, walks, recitals, etc.
12. If the child is absent from school, replenish the subject as soon as possible . In case of absence for an activity planned in advance to cover the subject.
13. Keep extra school supplies for emergencies at home . Generally, in the first years of school life children are very close to using cardboard, crayons, rubbers, colored pencils, scissors, therefore, it would be very beneficial to have at home reserves of these materials in case any special situation occurs.
14. Ask the child how his day was, what he liked best, what he did not like and why ; errands that the teacher mentioned; relationship with the compañeritos, as well as supervise that it adequately performs the feeding routines. It is important not only to pay attention to what the child verbally mentions, but also to their gestures, body language, looks, evasions in the conversation and in case of doubts, deepen with the teacher. Young children, for the most part, do not have the facility to express themselves and when faced with new situations they usually repress their feelings for fear that they will not be created, therefore, it is very important to pay attention to non-verbal language.
15. Both parents must participate in the child's schooling process , in many cases it is assumed that the mother is the one who must ensure these tasks, however the father occupies a very important place in the process of accompanying learning, therefore, the tasks involved in the process of schooling is a joint work.
Observations on the importance of preparing children
It is important to remember that, on many occasions, the "anguish" that the entrance to classes generates, is usually greater in the parents than in the children themselves , who absorb the feelings of their parents, and this can affect their ability to adapt to the new environment, as well as their capacity to organize themselves to new school demands.
It is not a good idea to try to alleviate the suffering of the son in his entrance to the school with these strategies that I will enumerate next:
- Stay in the educational center, pick it up at earlier hours
- Call the center constantly, or not take it to the center.
Any of these actions increase the anguish of the child and, therefore, can cause greater difficulties of adaptation . For this reason, it is recommended to discuss it with the teacher or with the specialized personnel at the educational center: counselor, psychologist, etc., who will provide specific guidance for the proper handling of the case.
