This week is the beginning of the academic year for many schools and also the time when shops and supermarkets will be busy dismantling the “Back To School” displays they began assembling at the start of the summer holidays.
The days when all that was needed was to search for the school bags and pencil cases lying idle all summer are gone; today high street banks offer “Back To School” loans and advertisers target school kids and parents aggressively into buying “new” and “latest” of everything.
The notion that spending more on uniforms, bags, stationery, name tags and sports equipment will actually make our children look forward to going back to school is not totally unfounded but does not address the real issues of understanding why some children hate school and are often very unhappy.
“When summer winds down and a whole year of school is just around the corner, rather than spending money, parents might do better to actually sit down with their children and discuss how they feel. It’s a difficult time for many kids and what they need most is to hear some words of encouragement, words that effectively go with them to school and help fight any insecurities they might be feeling but find it hard to talk about,” says Amanda, a school counselor.
Another problem parents have is understanding why their children are uneasy in the first place simply because the passage of time has led them — even the less happy ones — to look back on their own school days with nostalgia.
For them Amanda offers this advice: “Try not to tell too many ‘When I was at school’ stories or ask questions; kids are very good detectives and know why parents say things at certain times. The best you can do is to listen to what your child has to say. When a child is clearly anxious never insist n going to speak to the head teacher and never let a child miss their first day of school. Listen and try shifting the focus of how they feel on to how one of their classmates might be feeling at this exact moment; it can help them look at things in an entirely different light.”
People need to look at the bigger picture and consider; school may not always be great but even in today’s modern world, receiving an education is still a dream for many children.
