The one place where your child starts learning the basic lessons of his/her life is school. School years teach your child how to cope and how to deal with all major and minor problems of daily life. And by problems, we are not referring to academic problems. Here we refer to social problems, each of them different from each other so you know that you need different set of techniques to deal with them. And as a parent, it is more important for you to understand when you must jump in to support your child and when you need to stay behind them and allow them to fight their battle themselves.
You must take a few points into consideration:
1. Is my child old enough to handle his/her problems?
2. Is my kid being threatened physically or emotionally?
3. Is he/she aware of what the situation is?
4. Have I taught my child how to deal with such situations?
Once you have an answer to all these points, you will take your first step towards guiding your child to deal with the major challenges of school life. Next step is to understand the problems and decide how to help your kid get through with it. We have listed the 4 most common school challenges that may cross your child's way and how you can help them get through with it.
1. Emotional bullying
This may happen quite often, and when bullying takes place, you need to step forth in support of your child. Instances of bullying at a young age can leave your child emotionally disturbed for a lifetime. Remember that telling your kids that some kids are bullies and are accustomed to hurting their peers will not help them. Instead your child will feel victimized for a long period of time. Talking to the bully or his/her parents will not make situations any better. So try to talk to your kids about such situations. Teach them how to tackle such people, ask them to inform the teacher so that seniors can keep an eye on such situations. Over time, your child will be able to learn to stand for himself and fight back such bullies.
2. When your child feels that the teacher is after him/her
There can be situations when your child may feel that the teacher is singling him/her out, but in reality, that may just be a misconception. It could also be the other way around. You weren't there so deciding solely on the basis of what your child is saying is not fair. This is when you need to give your child clarity of opinion. Talk to your child and try to know the entire situation (you may intervene later). Ask your child to reach out to the teacher and talk it out. This way your child will know that you are there to help and he/she will also learn how to get to the truth of things.
3. Changing friendships
This age is when your child will come across a number of temporary friends. Some may make for life but some may just come close and part their ways soon. With age, as kids move towards elementary school, they start experiencing a difference in opinion and personalities. As a result, the friend circle shrinks. Now you can't stop your child from feeling hurt. He/she may feel rejected and unwanted. Tell them that you know how difficult this phase is. Teach them about the different types of friendships, how some friends make for life and how some friends come to teach you things. Eventually they will learn how to keep their expectations limited to a few people and will also see that you care about their feelings.
4. Peer pressure
There can be instances when your child can get in the wrong company. He/she may start coming to you and demanding strange things like more money or expensive articles. This could be due to what they see around them, with the people they stay with. Besides this, your kids could also be getting into the wrong habits like smoking, drinking or betting. This peer pressure is dangerous. You need to keep a constant check on your kids to protect them from such situations and not land in a place where they stop trusting you.
School is when your child learns much more than basic academics. They learn coping and problem-solving skills. So keep in mind that your involvement will reduce opportunities for them to learn. Try to find a middle ground, where you can guide your kid about how they can to choose their ways and then allow them to walk on their path on their own.