How to Relieve School Anxiety in Preschoolers

It is very important for a child to make his first exposure to school as happy and thrilling as possible. And off course the transition as easy as possible.  Here are some dos and don’ts for the same.

• Kids thrive on schedules and routines. Explain the about routine well in advance. Tell him, when he will get up in the morning, then he will brush his teeth, then he will have bath, then he will eat his breakfast, then how he will go to school by school bus or you will drop him, then what will be his classes like art class or music class, then how will he reach back home. This will help the child to be prepared for his classes.

I Am Going To School

• Don’t scare the child taking school name or teacher’s name. E.g. suppose some vacation or holidays are going on, child is not eating food properly then we might say, “If you don’t finish your lunch fast, I will send you to school”.  This creates fear about school in kids.
• Don’t bombard with the questions about school activities as soon as the child comes back from school. They might already be wanting for a change from school hours, and if we start asking questions they will become unhappy about it.
• Have some quite time or give good snack and then slowly let the child speak. Don’t ask questions like “how was the day today at school?” they are too young to answer this question. Ask questions like “What are the three things which you did at school excited you the most” or “which new game did you play today at school?”. Let the child speak up.
• Keep consistency while leaving the house and dropping the child to school. A fun cheerful goodbye while dropping and a big hug while picking up assures the child he would not be missing any thing by going to school.
• Don’t prolong the good bye. The longer you hang around, the harder it is for the child to let go and adjust.
• Never complain in front of the child. It is good to support child’s frustration. Set up a private meeting with the teacher, where child is not around. Try to work out a solution with the teacher separately. If child hears about the complaint, the frustration might get aggravated.
• If you get some negative feedback about your child from school, take it positively for the betterment of your child. Try to fix it taking help from teacher. Don’t keep on asking the child whether he is continuing the misbehavior . Child might start doing it intentionally just to give an answer to you.
• Inform the teacher if some thing is going on with the child, even if it is minor. If the child has not slept at night or papa just went on a business trip. This would help the teacher to accompany the child to over come that event.