Many kids start new school year at September 1st. A lot of them are waiting anxiously to meet their friends, but many are afraid to go to school. Maybe they are starting at the new school or they just don’t like their school and their “friends”. They might be bullied or ridiculed by their schoolmates.
What can you as a parent do about it? How can you help?
My daughter Anja was tested several years ago in the school and the tests showed she is at the top 3-5% of her generation regarding several aspects – creativity, logical thinking, math skills, leadership… And as such she is entitled to have personalized program to enhance and develop those skills and abilities.
First we (I) have to fight with school authorities as they did nothing about it. They tested her and that was it. I know I was really annoyed when the results was not known for several months. Or at least we were not informed about it. I really didn’t care about the results but I believe if they were doing the tests, we should know about the outcome. At that time my husband was (and still is) the president of the PTA, and he raised the issue several times. And to my surprise there were parents who wait silently for the results for over a year.
When we finally get the results and learned about the obligations the school have and possibilities there are in the school system, we managed to devise some sort of plan, how we can enhance Anja’s abilities. Nothing special, as she is top athlete and it takes her quite a lot of time, but small things she can do beside her normal school homeworks and studies, like preparing the presentation about swimming, attending math and science competitions, make her own webpage and so on. And one of the things she really likes to do is photography. Her father is a photographer and we have all the equipment so it was quite an obvious choice. So Anja agreed to prepare the photo exhibition in the school.
At first she was all for it, but gradually she lost the drive and we have to push her to go out and do the shooting. And she was all mad on us, because we get her those extra obligations she really doesn’t need or want. But somehow we get through it and she picked her best 16 photos. We get them printed and laminated and she put them up in the school hall, where she had opening ceremony, with teachers and her schoolmates attending. She was really proud and happy to finish the project. And we were proud as well.
Wanna see her photos? Click here.
But makes me wonder:
Are some parents so ignorant, afraid or what to stand up for their child rights?
Do they still believe that the child will get bad grades if you “fight” with the teachers?
That in the school the teachers are always right and you have nothing to say about it?
I really don’t support laziness and ignorance by my children, but when there is an injustice I always stand up for them and speak with the teacher (of course I don’t fight with them:).
And aren’t they curious how their child did on the tests?
I will never understand that. But that’s why I am no ordinary mom:)
Before the school started, we bought everything that our children need for the next year – books, workbooks, notebooks, all kind of colors, crayons, pens and pencils, flexible rulers, all sorts of rubbers, paper, labels and even some stuff they don’t need. I was sure we had everything.
But when my little one came from school the other day, she was literally crying she needs red-blue pencil. I even didn’t know what that is:) Everyone in the class has it and she needs it instantly. As impatient as she can be sometimes and as obedient when there is really no need to be (she is not when I want her to be:)) she wanted to head for the store immediately.
Of course I gave in and go for the pencil, only to found it in the fifth store I went to. I was pissed as a…
And here are my questions:
Did the tacher really think what she is expecting? Why the children need red-blue pencil (that is a pencil, that writes red on one end and blue on the other) when they have all kinds of pencils, markers, pens… in both blue and red and all colours in between?
Do you sometimes act like this at your home?
Do you expect to be it your way just because it is your way?
Or do you allow different solutions and paths to the same result?
At the end it really isn’t matter how we do it, as long as it is done, right?
Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else. (Judy Garland)
When the summer is ending and the autumn will be here in the blink of the eye, our kids are headed for the school again.
How do they feel about it?
Are they excited to meet their friend or are they afraid to go back to school?
Are they happy to learn something or are they just trying to get by?
And how do you make them feel? Are you encouraging? Are you pushing them to get good grades? Did you read Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Kid, Smart Kid (Rich Dad’s Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart
I remember when my older daughter Anja was 6. She wanted to go to swimming and I was very much against it. She just started the school, and winter was coming, and I just thought she is no good at sports. But somehow she was so persistent that I gave up. Not that I wanted to. Or that I thought this was the right thing. But I let her go. And by 9, she was competing and getting medals, and now, when she is 12, she is still swimming, 7 times a week, and she just loves it. On the other hand, my younger daughter Tina, for whom I still believe she could be a great athlete (and she is good at ball games too), doesn’t want to go to any sports activities at all, and when I made her, she sticks to it for a year and then we are searching for another sport she could enjoy.
This lesson always have me thinking, how well I really understand and know my children. Do I pay attention to their wishes, to their dreams, to their reasoning? Because whatever we might think, everyone knows himself the best, even children.
Gratitude
is the Best Attitude
SelfGrowth.com
is the most complete FREE guide to information about Personal Growth on the Internet. 
