Is your child hesitant to go to school? Does he lie to you to stay at home? Does he display tantrums when you force him to school? Then it is obvious that your child is suffering from school fright. As always, a feeling of fear will have a reason behind it. Something in the school environment is annoying the child and he naturally fears confronting it. If the child who enjoyed a lot during the weekend gets up crying on Monday morning, then there can only be one reason- ‘He doesn’t like to go to school’.
The symptoms of school fright
A child who is afraid of going to school behaves in really strange ways to imply it. He might start crying all of a sudden without any provocation. This would get stronger when it nears the time to go to school. He might sometimes claim that he doesn’t want to go school at all or put him in another school. He could even get aggressive and hurt others when compelled or scolded. There are also symptoms that indirectly point to school fright like frequent illness or deliberate discarding of school work. If all these actions are absent during holidays, then some aspect of the school is seriously affecting your child.
What a parent can do?
The first thing that a parent can do is to try and understand why the child is behaving oddly. Don’t ever threaten or scold your child on the first place. Ask him calmly if something is frustrating him at school. Get to know the root cause of his irritation and remediate it.
For all this to happen, the parent must stay cool and composed. Neglecting your child’s irritation or commanding him all the while will only help to swell the trouble. Find time to talk to your kid. Ask him about whatever that happens at school in detail. If you are easy enough, he is likely to mention the cause right away. Assure him that his parents would support him and get him safely through his troubles.
The reasons and solutions for school fright
There are a lot of factors at school that can cause problems to your child (from his point of view) which can be-
- Homesickness- This is commonly found in small children during their initial years of schooling. They may miss their family especially their mother at school. If you can find time to take your child to school, bring him back home and spend time with him at school whenever possible, this problem would wither by itself.
- Offensive peers or teachers- Children who are distressed by the bullying of peers or dictatorship of teachers would show gradual depreciation in school interests. If such is the case, you may contact his teacher for a rational discussion or raise a complaint in a PTA meeting if a strategy hasn’t been forwarded to cope with the situation.
- Academic issues- Children who are dissatisfied with their subjects of study will be uncomfortable at classrooms. This can also be a reason to keep away from school. When everything turns out futile, even after continuous trials, children would slowly develop a feeling of antagonism towards the subject, the teacher and the whole school environment. If you could supplement him with additional learning resources, the matter can be solved to an extent. Furthermore make him realize that all the subjects may not be easy for a student. More work might be required to get along with the subjects other than his favorite and that it is his responsibility as a student to do so.
