by Paul Lines

Created on: January 01, 2007   Last Updated: March 24, 2007

For any child their first day at school is likely to be a traumatic experience. Meeting new people for the first time; being without their parents for the first time and the unfamiliar surroundings will all add to the fear factor?

There are ways in which parents can prepare their child for this first day and reduce the difficulties that might otherwise be experienced. In the author's opinion, the following will help.

SOCIAL CONTACT
Much of the trepidation experienced by children on their first day at school is the fear of meeting and mixing with their peers for the first time. There are two ways to reduce this problem.

1) In many cases the schools will organise special open days that allow new pupils to meet and get to know each other. It is important to ensure that your child attends these events, as they will then get to know other children that they will be mixing with at the school, and this will reduce the fear factor for them.

2) Allowing your children to mix with others from the local area at a very young age will also enable them to build up the early years social skills that they need. It will assist the child in being able to mix and make friendships, which may set them in good stead when they start at school.

The other social aspect for young children is the ability to be able to spend time away from their security of their home and parents. In many cases, this can be a major issue when starting school, especially where the child has spent the majority of their formative years closely linked to their home and parents. To reduce the problems that arise in this situation, the following actions can reduce these problems.

1) Allow close family and trusted friends to spend time with your child without your presence. It need only start by being a few minutes, but it will help the child to become use to the fact that the parent might not be available 24/7.

2) Accept invitations for your child to attend other children's birthday parties. By this method, the child will learn to involve themselves with other children of a similar age group and they will soon forget that you as a parent are not there devoting yourself totally to them.

THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
In addition to the social aspect of a child's first day at school, the other thing that might seem strange to them is the learning environment itself. This is likely to be different to the relaxed home environment. There are ways that you can address this issue before the child starts school.

1) Talk to the school about the type of system that they operate. It would be actually be better if you could witness how they operate first hand, by sitting in on a lesson.

2) In the couple of weeks before your child starts at the school, introduce them to the system for an hour or so each day, by making it into a fun home exercise. This will give them some experience and reduce the initial fear factor when they start school for real.

If you manage the transition from the child's home life to the first schooling experience correctly, then it should ease the trepidation that they feel and help them to settle into the new environment with the least amount of upset and emotional disturbance.

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