Support Your Child through Their First School Days

Something that parents often forget is how daunting the first few days at school can be. This is something that can affect children in many different ways, but ultimately a lot of children find it tough to deal with. They have a brand new environment to deal with, a huge amount of new people to be alongside and form friendships with, and a routine that they have never really encountered before.

One thing that will help your child through the transformation that is their first few days at school is support, comfort and encouragement from their parents. This is a time full of change for them, so one of the best things to do for your child is to ensure nothing else changes in their life for the first few days. Try to keep their routine together, with the exception of the move to school, and allow them the comfort of enjoying some of their favourite things while they are at home.

Things like making their favourite meal for tea when they come home, sitting down and watching their favourite movie after school, all of these things can help and maintain a feel or normality. Different children will react differently to the move into school and the environment that throws at them. However, not every child will clearly show their emotions, so if you think your child is enjoying things, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are, underneath they may be struggling to come to terms with things.

Even those children that are enjoying things and they are enjoying what challenges and fun is brought by moving to school still deserve attention and rewards for their efforts. A good way to do this is to plan in family time for the whole family on a weekend, when you are not working and when your child is not at school. Those who have had a great week at school will see this as a reward for their hard work, while those who have struggled will see this as a treat and as comfort for them after what has been a tough week for them.

We often underestimate the move to school and just how hard it is on our children. However, by supporting them through those first few days you can really make a difference to them. This can be in the form of a reward, or just simple home comforts that will take their mind off what has been happening to them.

Eventually all children will get used to school, and enjoy different aspects of it. However, that may take time and to help your child as much as possible, be sure you are always there for them and you