Vocational School of Justice
FAMILY SUPPORT IS A MUST FOR GOING BACK TO SCHOOL
As approximately 17 million students will resume classes on Monday, February 8, it is very important for parents to support their children for the new semester in terms of their motivation and success.
Hakan Yıldız, Lecturer at Child Development Program, Vocational School of Health Services, Izmir University of Economics, stated that students had a chance to relax and enjoy themselves during the semester holiday. He said, “Students may have difficulty adjusting back to school and therefore lack motivation. Parents need to prepare and support their children for the new semester.”
Yıldız also pointed that parents should avoid expecting too much from the new semester and raise anxiety levels of their children, that they should instead encourage confidence in their children. Parents should always make their children feel supported. “It is common for young children especially to not to want to go back to school. Parents should avoid reflecting their own stress and worries by saying ‘your school is starting and you are not ready still’ to their children. They should not impose going back to school as a threatening situation. They should make friendly reminders instead,” said Yıldız.
‘Effective communication, motivated child’
Yıldız made the following recommendations in terms of getting the child ready for the new semester:
“Make an effort to organize the study desk together. Make plans to motivate your child for school. There may be a few bad grades in the report card. This alone may make the child feel negative towards school. Reacting dramatically to such situations may further trigger the feeling of failure the child is already experiencing. Help them fix bad grades, effective communication and support from parents would help ease the burden of the new semester.”