Daughter crying going to school 12/10/2012 11:31 - Ask Mother Hen ----------------------------------- Hi, My 4 year old daughter started school in September and she screams every day when I bring her in. She was in Playschool for 2 years before and although she cried each year for the first week she was fine after. She was excited about starting school and was fine the first few day. As soon as we get to the gates she asks why does she have to go to school and says she doesn´t like it. Once we get to the door she starts crying and clinging onto me and then screaming. Initially she was fine for the childminder but now she´s crying for her too. I know she is fine once she gets in and calms down and when I collect her she is hugging all her friends goodbye & tells me everything she done in school. What can I do????
re : Daughter crying going to school 16/10/2012 08:56 - Ask Mother Hen ----------------------------------- Hi Mairead It sounds like it just might take your daughter a while longer to settle into the new school routine. The fact that she is happy when she´s coming out of school is a really good sign, and tells us that there´s probably not much to worry about. However, I´d suggest putting aside some special ´Chat´ time every day with her; perhaps as she´s going to bed as that can often be the time children open up and tell you anything that´s going on. It can also help her relax before bedtime and you can prepare her for the next day. The other suggestion is to do a picture chart for the routine of going to school - eg. going in the car, Mammy or childminder bring you to the classroom, kiss byebye and then go in by yourself, final picture is everyone is smiling and happy. It can help her understand whats expected of her and visualise herself being happy going into school every day. You could incorporate a reward system with stars if you wanted/needed, and a little prize at the end of the week. That way you are coaching her to go into school easily, but with the special chat time you are also ensuring that you´re there for her if she has any worries or concerns. If it continues, speak to her teacher to make sure there are no concerns about anything at school - socially with other kids, or educationally. Hopefully this is just a settling-in phase as the reality of ´going to school every day´ has hit and she just gets used to it now.
