School? Not so cool...

Just picture a pre-KG school ambience. You see squalling kids, looking singularly scared, after being shoved into that fully alien surroundings. You find high-strung parents, feeling highly apprehensive of their offspring acclimatising well in that new terrain. You see the distraught teacher, doggedly trying to bring about some semblance of discipline in the class. And, you find the harried helper girl, shuttling between the teacher and the parents, listening to directives of the former, and the latter’s interminable requests of taking special care of their ward! 

For some teeny tots, the school is a veritable bugbear, even weeks after their joining. Well, are you among those parents, whose child balks at going to school? If so, what makes your child do that?

The reasons are varied. One could be that, in these fast-paced times, with working parents, there are cases of children, under exclusive care of the domestic help. As the child internalises the maid’s spoken language, it may be totally unversed in English language. So, when the child hears the teacher rapping out in English, it may all sound alien to him.

This snag in comprehending the language translates as ‘stumbling block’ in the child’s learning, stymieing his academic progress, besides corroding his interest in knowing about new things. What’s more, the same glitch may even pop up as an impediment, while interacting with his fellow class-mates.

Well, the antidote here is to make your offspring pretty conversant with the language. This could be done by you constantly chattering with him in English, or by you reading out copious amount of stories that capture his fancy.

Also, you can take him to a fruit orchard or a flower garden, and try enumerating the fruits and flowers. Your child besides becoming familiar with numbers; will also learn to identify fruits/flowers, along with the colours! This fun-filled way of teaching would  ignite his passion to learn more. So he may love going to school to assimilate more knowledge. However do not be over-zealous to hammer into his head excess amount of info. Surplus knowledge may make him develop antipathy towards studies, extinguishing his zeal to learn!

Another reason for your child’s aversion to school-going could be that he may be viewing the teacher as a stern martinet! This happens when the teacher keeps brandishing a bludgeon-like stick, or such other fear-evoking tool, just to instill fear and discipline, though not to whack the children with it. But this must have spawned an overdose of fear, spooking your child completely. Note, if a child takes a shine to the teacher, he automatically takes a shine to the school. You can try interacting with the teacher for few moments whenever possible. Once your child finds the teacher to be amicable, it would allay his fears. Besides, by your interaction, the teacher may even get to know your child better.

There’s yet another reason for your child to be reluctant to go to school. Maybe there is a  bully in his class, who’s bulldozing him to do some demeaning things that could have distressed him. If that’s the case, try discreetly investigating on who the little imp is, and befriend him with gentle words. You can even ask your child to share his snacks with him during short breaks. Once your child is assured that there’s none to hector him around, he may enjoy his new ambience.

That apart, having great friends in the class is a sure-fire hit in increasing the child’s passion to go to school. Just allow your child to hobnob more with his classmates. If possible, you can take him to their homes during weekends.

Finally, there may be other hassles too, which could be hindering your child’s school-going interest. In fact, some of the aforesaid problems are encountered by bigger children too. But remember, there’s no problem that could be termed intractable. All you’ve to do is to probe into those problem areas and clear the decks for your li’l one.