Moving to another school and getting to know a new team is always stressful for a child. After all, he needs to take care not only of his academic performance but also of making friends with his peers. During this period, a son or daughter especially needs the support of their parents. What can a mother do to help her student settle into a new class faster?
Being new to the team is scary even for adults. Remember the stress we sometimes experience when changing jobs or moving to another city. What can we say about a child who perceives any changes even more emotionally? Your task is to properly set up the student and suggest how best to behave with new acquaintances.
Instill confidence
The experience of communicating in an unfamiliar team is always interesting and informative. Make every effort so that the child has only pleasant expectations before meeting new classmates. Of course, it is worth warning that children are different, and perhaps there will be those in the class who he does not like. However, there will be much more boys and girls who will become good friends for the child in the future!
without haste
Advise your child not to be too active in the first days, but to look more closely at the guys. It will be useful for the student to figure out who is the leader in the new team and who is the outsider. Explain that just as he watches his classmates, they also look at him, determining how much a newcomer can join their company. Give your child a few questions to help start a conversation in class:
- How do you spend your time during breaks?
- What are you playing?
- Which teachers do you like and which do you like the other way around?
- Do you go out together after school?
This will help the child not to get confused by excitement, switch attention from his person and connect other guys to the conversation.
Do not brag!
New students at school often resort to petty lies to please their classmates. The desire to embellish reality arises from self-doubt, the child’s fear that he is not interested in new acquaintances. It is important to help the student improve self-esteem. Ask him what five positive qualities or hobbies he can tell his classmates about? Perhaps he runs fast, draws well, was on an excursion in another country – everyone has a considerable number of real, not fictional things that will help win over those around him.
Warn that any deception will sooner or later be revealed. For clarity, tell an episode from your childhood or come up with an instructive story on the go about how a boy (girl) lied about himself from three boxes, and then the truth surfaced and he lost authority among the guys.
Ability to take care of yourself
Unfortunately, children can be very cruel. It is possible that a flurry of negativity will fall on the newcomer: ridicule, name-calling. Review your child’s behavior beforehand. What features or traits of character can provoke unfriendly behavior of classmates? How to deal with the situation? For example, if one of the guys starts to distort the name of the child, you can turn everything into a joke, say that in the old school all the class also had nicknames, or ask who in the new team has what nickname.
Keep in mind: if the baby has self-esteem problems, he has every chance of falling into the category of outcasts. To earn the respect of the guys, the child must immediately prove himself on the positive side. Instill in the student confidence that he has more advantages than disadvantages. If the children offend him, let him immediately tell them that he is unpleasant, and he does not allow him to behave like this. Agree: it is better to survive a small conflict from the very beginning than to endure resentment for years.
