Finding out why your child doesn't want to go to school and helping to find a solution to the problem.
There could be any number of reasons why your primary school child suddenly doesn’t want to go to school and has been playing up every morning. Finding out the real reason for the sudden attack of illnesses every morning takes a little bit of work on your behalf.
Chances are, it’s nothing serious but if it is a situation that has been happening for a while, there could be something causing your child distress everyday.
Bullying; not being able to keep up with the other children in the class; having no friends are just some of the situations that can make life very painful for a small child when they have to face the problem alone on a daily basis.
The first and easiest way to get to the bottom of the situation is to sit down and talk to your child about it. Most times this can bring an immediate result and you will know what you are dealing with. You will also be able to give your child the support needed to fight through his/her problem.
Sometimes children can become confused about whose fault things are and may be led to believe that their treatment was caused by their own doing. The more dominant party in the play of things can find ways to make the victim feel guilty and confused. When this happens, your child will not open up so easily and you will have to find a different approach to finding out what is upsetting your child.
If you do have reason to believe that your child is being victimised at school in any way, you should endeavour to find out the source of your child’s concerns. Speak to your child’s teacher about how your child is doing in class. Perhaps he/she is not able to do the work that is expected. At least the teacher is in a good position to keep an eye on things and see what is going on.
If the problem is left unaddressed, although you may find a way to get your child to go to school you could also find that their unhappiness at being there hinders their progress.
Helping your child overcome their problem doesn’t necessarily mean being involved in the solution yourself. It could simply mean talking to them and teaching them how to deal with it themselves by standing up for themselves or even reporting somebody to the principal if need be.
This method of resolving the problem is particularly effective because it teaches character building as your child learns that they can confront and resolve a difficult situation alone. This kind of thing gives the child an enormous amount of self-confidence.
If the situation turns out to be more than a small child can handle by themselves, you should step in and make known your support to your child. Whether the problem turns out to be with the teacher or with another child, it is usually best to speak directly with the school principal so that you yourself avoid a direct confrontation with the offender otherwise you could get too close to the problem and risk getting overheated.
Ask the principal what will be done about the situation and follow things up to make sure that these measures have been put in place.
Your child should not be left in a situation where he/she has to deal with a stressful problem in a daily sense. If worst comes to worst and nothing is done to help your child by the school, you may have to consider changing schools as leaving them in the current one could have a negative long-term effect on their academic progress and self-confidence.
