Ways to Prepare Your Anxious Child For School

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There is only one week left for the long-awaited "back to school", the youngest of the house have to prepare for the return to routine and schedules, like their parents, who have to complete the details of the new books, school material and return to your usual chores. However, this time we will focus on the little ones and take advantage of these days so that the adaptation of the pool to the patio is more bearable.

First of all, we talk about the veterans, the children who are going to be reunited with their friends for another year, maybe they change their classroom and teacher, but it is the center they already know and they know what they can expect from the new course. It is important to put yourself in their place and keep in mind that for them it can also represent an effort to change the summer days with very flexible schedules and a lot of free time for the calendar and school obligations. Therefore, we propose some tricks:

1 . Return from the vacation place a few days before. This is positive for both children and adults, so they can reconnect with their usual environment, their room, their bed and their toys, at the same time that little by little their hours of food, sleep, leisure ... to return to get up early every day do not catch them by surprise.

2 . Highlight the positive. It is essential that parents have a positive attitude towards returning to routine since children tend to learn and understand things through their parents. If they are anguished and tired of the "start over" the kids will also feel that way. It is preferable to highlight the good things you will find: your friends, to tell you all the things you have learned during the summer, the new challenge that represents a new course, because it is becoming more and more capable of doing things, return to the extracurricular activities that he liked so much and continue to keep up some time to enjoy leisure with his parents.

3 . Make him a participant. When we ask the opinion of a minor, we convey that we care about what you think, which reinforces your self-esteem, so it is advisable to do it in situations like this, where you are going to decide what school supplies are bought, what the backpack will be like new (if necessary), etc. Talking about returning to school, that you go with them to make the necessary purchases and that they are the ones who choose some of the things will help them to get excited about the novelty and to have more want to release everything and teach it to their classmates. Likewise, browsing the new books with them and generating positive expectations of what they are going to learn will also make them start with more enthusiasm.

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AND FOR THOSE WHO ENTER THE COLLEGE FOR THE FIRST TIME...

Now it is time to focus on the little ones, where they will go to school for the first time. In most cases, this happens after three or four years of life. Despite not being part of compulsory education many parents need to have it to combine their family life with their working life and in turn, it is positive for the process of socialization of children. However, this first experience with the school can generate anguish and anxiety in the children and in the parents who leave them for the first time. The above tips are also applicable on this occasion, but we bring some more that are better suited to the needs of this stage.

1 . Trust in the place where you leave your children. As indicated above, it is important that parents are calm when they leave their children in school, doing it naturally. Knowing the center of studies or having any reference about the teacher that you are going to have can help generate more confidence and tranquility.

2 . Support them a lot, especially the first weeks. Children are likely to feel afraid, anxious or shy about getting away from their parents and arriving at a new place where they do not know anyone. Therefore, it is possible that they present some behaviors that already seemed overcome, such as wetting the bed. It must be approached calmly and naturally, leaving an adaptation period of one or two weeks.

3 . Tell them about the new operation. Knowing what is going to happen is something fundamental for children and helps reduce their anxiety, so talk about what their new schedules will be, what they will do there or what they will find will prepare them for the novelty. In the same way, before the classes begin, we can go with them to the school and go around so they can become familiar with the place.

4 . In the end, he ALWAYS goes home. Leaving the child at school should not be lived as a "goodbye" but as a "see you later", since after the established time there will always be a person of confidence who comes to pick it up without delay. It is recommended that one of the parents do this task, at least during the adaptation period, although this is not always possible.

The impression that they take of the first course of school will influence the expectations of the following ones, for that reason, it is important that it is something pleasant and that little by little they feel more autonomous in the new environment.