In Spain there are still a few weeks to start school, but in other countries they have already started the course and the first day of school It is one of those that provides images to remember, some for the happiness of some children and others for the sadness of other children who do not get along so well.
Rarely a single photo has summed up these two states so well, so we want to share it precisely for that reason; but also to talk about the poor guy in the background, the secondary character of the photo. They are two very different ways to start school in the same image: smiling or lying on the floor.
Two brothers on their first day of the new course
The image is of two brothers at home, minutes before leaving for school. The girl completely prepared to leave the house as soon as necessary, with a smile a little forced for the photo, but smile in any case, and the boy in the background, Shot without wanting to know anything about photos, friends or schools.
It has been shared in imgur, where many people have sympathized with the child, even explaining that it might well be one of them the first day of work after the holidays, and that it could even be the living image of two teachers on the first day of school: one motivated and smiling and the other in a corner, suffering for what might happen to meet their new students.
In Babies and more, this has been the adaptation to my daughter's first Infant course, which had not gone to daycare beforeHow to help children start well in school?
The girl seems to be wearing it quite well, so I'm afraid we have to focus on the boy, who is carrying the backpack but doesn't seem very convinced of wanting to get up. The reality is that you cannot force someone to have a good time at school, nor can you get him to like something he probably dislikes, but it is in our hands to try and that is why we will explain what can we do to try to get children to start well in school.
If it's the first time you go to school
In case it is the first time he goes to school everything will be very new for him and it will be a great change, whether he has already gone to the nursery or not, so the ideal is that said change be as progressive as possible. For this it is recommended:
- Adapt the schedules days before: so that you do not go to bed the night before with summer time, we wake you up in the morning with a dream of the copon and go to school already in bad milk or half asleep.
- Make use of the symbolic game before school: the symbolic game is the one in which we play to be someone, imagining situations. One way to advance children what will happen at school is to play with their dolls, which is the first day of class ... mom or dad takes him to school, they enter the class, greets the other children, the teacher , etc. If this is done several days, in slightly different ways, the child may see some of the situations that could occur at school and, when they happen, feel more secure.
- Make use of stories: as a support for the symbolic game we can also make use of stories or books that talk about the topic: the first day of school, children, toys, teacher, dad entering class with you and staying for a while, etc.
- Help us prepare things for school: the backpack, the clothes of the next day, what they have to wear ... that way you will know a little what you are wearing and you will feel more involved in the process.
- Perform an appropriate adaptation period: This depends a lot on the school, but as parents we have to try to make the child feel accompanied the first days so that little by little he feels more secure in the classroom. It will be one of the places where more hours will happen throughout the year, so it is worth trying to make you happy and feel almost at home.
- Avoid negative phrases: Although we feel that we get rid of our son, who is getting older, that we are going to lose control of what is happening to him and that makes us want to cry, we cannot let him see us that way, because if he feels that Separation is negative for us, not only will he not want to stay in school but he will want to stay with us to calm us down, so that we don't suffer. And that responsibility does not pertoca.
- Avoid exaggerations in positive and visions of the future: We have to be relatively positive, but without going over ... explain the reality, that there will be many children, that there will be toys, that you can play a lot and hopefully have a great time. If we exaggerate, if we play that we see the future in a crystal ball: "You are going to have a great time", "The school is very cool", "You will play with all the children" and we magnify everything, it will smell that we are trying convince him of something that really isn't that great. Also, with the anticipation of things that may not happen, you may feel pressured and misunderstood. Pressed to have fun because it is what we expect from him and misunderstood to see that we insist that school is great when he feels that it is not, and does not even know how to express what he feels.
- Don't run away: The first day may go well for everything worked. But once there we have to leave after saying goodbye to him when he is playing, happy, or quiet, and we think he can stay for a while without us (if this is how the school establishes the adaptation period ... there are some who tell you that you don't go all the time). If we leave without warning, you lose control of the situation, think that you have disappeared and the next day you may not even want to separate from yourself. We must never run away in secret, but tell him that we are leaving and then we will come for him.
If it's not the first time you go to school
If we talk about the boy in the picture, which doesn't seem like the first time he goes to school, and who probably loves summer above all things, the tips are not very different:
- Adjust the schedules so that the day of the return to school arrives in the best conditions.
- Stay a few days before with some child of the class: a while in the park, to have a snack ... to see a child from school again can help you begin to see that the routines will return soon, and to remember what they were.
- To help prepare things for school: it may be good to wear a backpack, a piece of clothing that makes you excited or even bring a new toy or something that you may want to teach a child.
- Again, avoid exaggerations.
- Do not run away, explain what time you will look for it and even what you will do after school, so that you see that your life goes beyond school and that your life with you also continues.
- If he misbehaves, to participate in the school: Nothing like a kind, patient, friendly and imaginative teacher to make classes more fun and for the child to pay more attention. If you have a good time, or if you do not have a bad time, it is easier that the next day you agree to go with less repairs.
