My kids went to their new school for the first time today and my second youngest daughter doesn't like it. I don't know why because she made new friends and is a star in her class. However, she doesn't like it and doesn't want to go tomorrow. What do I do? All the other kids love the school and teachers. Please help.
By mc4lifes from Sydney, NSW
Show her the pros of the school and talk to her about college. Explain to her that she has to go or she won't be able to be what ever she wants to be.
I hated school when I was a kid, from grade 1 to probably grade 5. I was extremely good at pretending to be sick. I don't know what the problem was but eventually it got worked out. There was only one school in the town, so I had no choice. The town was so small that the school housed grades 1 through 12. In elementary school there was two grades to a room. Kids have to learn to adapt.
Your child has to go to school, that's just how it is. Ask her what makes her dislike the school. Young kids go through a lot of emotions as well.
Tell her that she is a big girl, and should go to school.
Check out the teacher or teachers! As a child we moved from place to place a lot. But one place we moved to had teachers that were dumber than stumps. They showed favoritism and didn't pay attention to their duties.
I had learned to print but hadn't learned "cursive", I was told to copy the letters from the letters above the blackboards. I made a lot of letters backwards, the teacher didn't notice.
My brother had a teacher that 'lost' children. Some kids had shoved him in a locker on Friday. If my mother hadn't insisted he was there, he would have died or been severely retarded from the heat. The teacher said he had left with all the other children.
These are just two examples of many.
So what if she made new friends and is a star in her class. She MISSES her other friends and teacher. These were her comfort zone. She's in 1st grade and is still very unsure of the world, her body and especially what is happening to her because of the move. Questions that might be going through her mind are the same as I deal with every child that comes thru my home. "What did I do bad to make me have to be here?" Is the number one question asked by my children. All of my children are foster kids and what you are describing is a fear of rejection because "I must be bad". Please take the time to meet with her teacher and arrange a Parent Day in her classroom where you can go and stay all day with your daughter to prove to her that you are NOT throwing her away. Telling her things like has been suggested on this post shows how little people care about the feeling of children for the most part. How you react to your child's fear will set the tone for the rest of her life concerning not only school but her relationship with her family and peers. Find something new for you and her to do alone together. Something that she wants or has always wanted to do would be the best. Did she have to loose pets, Grandparents, special Aunts/Uncles/cousins, etc. YOU have to become a lonesome detective and find out what she needs to help replace what she has lost.
Did anything happen to change her opinion? Is it just a matter of getting better adjusted? Maybe you could invite one of the girls in her class over one afternoon to watch videos or?
She could be bullied. Ask the school to keep an eye on her. It could be a classmate or someone during lunch, recess or on the bus.
