Adjusting to a new school environment (such as from a nursery to a kindergarten or from a kindergarten to their elementary school) can be pretty challenging for your young children; while on the other hand, separating them from their current peers and teachers would cause unforeseen anxiety and depressions.
Some parents were surprised to find that some of their children had difficult time getting over the impact of school transition, especially for the first one month.
Some of the symptoms which may be visible to the parents are:
- Having difficulty in sleeping or frequent nightmares after the school transition
- The increase sign of worries and anxieties in their behavior and attitude
- A drop in their grade
Below are some key tips on how to reduce the impact of school transition for young children:
1. Be sensitive
Parents should carry out open talks with your kids and find out what his real concerns are. Encourage him to tell you what really bothers him so that you can help him. Don’t hide the issues or trying to ignore them. Face them honestly with your child to help him get through this transition period.
2. Be engaged
Parents should involve in the school or kindergarten’s volunteer programs, or participate in any parent-child’s activities held. This enables the parents to get a fine perspective on how their children are doing in the new school and how you can further assist them in areas of concern.
3. Adjust to the new schedule earlier
Have a plan to start to accommodate to the new schedule at least one week before the actual new school day. Establish a new routine time table for your child to start adjusting himself to. Such as to wake up early in the morning if he happens to be on a morning school, train him to get to bed earlier to catch a good sound sleep. Also getting him to prepare the necessary stuffs for the school tomorrow before going off to bed the day before is a good habit to avoid any last minute hassle and early morning stress especially when a new semester starts.
4. Effective community and parents programs
This encourages an active involvements and valuable engagement of parents in the envisioning, planning and implementation phase of the pre-kindergarten and pre-elementary transition programs. This helps to smoothen the transition process of these young children from their pre-school to an elementary school, while forming a strong connection among parents and the school providers.
Transitions are inevitable in a child’s development progress; those who have experienced positive and smooth transition during their school days will tend to excel in their early years of schools and continue to perform well through their teens. Positive and smooth transition is always possible for your children, as long as it is furnished with effective communications and keen engagements from the caring parents along the process.