The first day of school last week was lovely! The sun was shining, the students were both excited and nervous and they were also very positive. There were some comments about how it feels not to be able to lie in bed until... whenever... but, overall, the students were pleased to be back at school.
As the second week of term comes to a close and we are starting to experience autumnal weather and seasonal coughs and colds, parents may find it harder to help their children remain positive about coming to school each day. This is quite normal! As adults, we also have days when we don’t want to get up or we don’t want to go to work. Lettingour children know that everyone has tough days and develops their own strategies to deal with this will help our children in their transition from dependence on others to becoming fully independent adults.
Different strategies work for different people and your preferred strategies might not work for your child. If you are running out of ideas with your children, I hope at least one of the five ideas below comes in handy.
Struggling to get out of bed? Read Mel Robbin’s 5 second rule or watch her on YouTube.
Friendship issues? Ask your child who they enjoy spending time with and why. Tell them how you make new friends, giving real examples of people you have recently got to know. Help your child organise meeting school friends out of school. This article gives further advice on helping your child to make friends.
Academic issues? Find out how much your child is asking their teacher for help. If they aren’t, encourage them to do so. There are more ideas here.
Homework issues? Show your child how you organise your ‘to do’ list. Is it in a notebook? Online? Show your child how you cross off items to get that sense of satisfaction (which is in fact a shot of dopamine) when something is completed. If you want to find out more about the neuroscience connected with to do lists, this is a good place to start.
Clothing conversations? A conversation about uniform, reasons for it and different ways of expression of individuality is probably the best way forward. You might not agree with all the points in this article, however it does give some interesting ideas for areas of discussion.
If any of the issues above are a concern, please get in touch with your child’s class teacher or Form tutor straight away. We will always do what we can to help.
ANNA FOURNIER
HEAD OF SECONDARY
