The adaptation of the child to school starts from the time of kindergarten.
Every new experience in a person's life brings with it a new emotion, and so does the child's adaptation to school. Those who have children should be ready for new experiences and emotions with each new day. Because a child means innovation and change. Each period of a child's life brings new beginnings. One of the most important ones is the first time the child encounters an environment outside the home and family. While some families send their children to kindergarten, some families experience this process in the first grade of primary school.
Although this new period of adaptation to school is important for parents, it can also be a time of anxiety and many emotions for the child. In this respect, parents should be careful when introducing kindergarten and primary school to their children.
If rules, training and games have already been initiated at home before the child's adaptation to school, parents can introduce kindergarten or primary school to their children. If not, it may be a little more difficult to convey to the child. At this point, parents should avoid statements such as "We will take you to a kindergarten/primary school because you are a naughty child, the teachers there will punish you if you make mistakes, we are sending you there to be smart." Instead, it should be conveyed as an environment where the existing potential of the child can be revealed, where he/she can play with children like him/her, where he/she can come back to his/her family in the evening, and where he/she can learn new things.
Since school is the first step out of the family, it can cause feelings of anxiety as well as joy and excitement for most children. Some anxiety about separation from the mother can be considered natural. What is important here is that the mother exhibits attitudes that will calm the child's anxiety during the process of getting used to school. The mother should not approach the child with anxious attitudes and should keep her own anxiety under control. The most common anxiety the child experiences when going to school is that he/she will be left there, that he/she may be forgotten by his/her mother or that something will happen to his/her mother. Because of these concerns, a gradual transition to school can be made with the mother. For example, on the first day, the mother may wait outside the classroom all day, while in the following days the mother's stay is reduced and she is removed from the school. Sometimes children may bring a toy from home or a piece of the mother's clothing. In such cases, the child should be understood and a gradual separation from the existing transition object should be planned. All these transitions should be in cooperation with the class teacher. An important point is that if this anxiety lasts longer than a month and starts to affect the life of the child and the family, the possibility of "separation anxiety" should be brought to mind and help from a specialist should be sought.
When children have difficulty adapting to a new situation, they often use the phrase "If I don't go today, I'll go tomorrow". In the adaptation of the child to school, the child should first be talked to about this issue and the reasons should be learned. If it is not a serious situation, if it is just a trial sentence, the mother and father should be consistent and determined about going to school. It is also very important that there is no difference of opinion between the mother and father and that there is a single message to the child. In some cases, the child may put pressure on his/her parents by saying, "If I go, you will buy the things I want". In such cases, the rewards should be reconsidered and the process of adaptation should be rewarded, not for using this phrase. Rewards should not be big, they do not always have to be expensive and tangible gifts. Going to a favorite place, giving positive feedback on school activities can also be rewards.