Chicago's Sprout Gifted Education De-Stresses the First Day of School
The beginning of a new school year can be a very stressful event for children and parents. Change and unpredictability are a source of anxiety for many children; combined with the pressures of grades, making new friends, and getting along with teachers you have a recipe for a rocky transition into the school year. Lauren Callaway, Owner/Director and Head Teacher of Lincoln Park’s SPROUT offers Chicago parents a few simple ideas, that can help make that transition a little smoother for all involved.
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) August 17, 2006
The beginning of a new school year can be a very stressful event for children and parents. Change and unpredictability are a source of anxiety for many children; combined with the pressures of grades, making new friends, and getting along with teachers you have a recipe for a rocky transition into the school year. Lauren Callaway, Owner/Director and Head Teacher of Lincoln Park’s SPROUT offers Chicago parents a few simple ideas, that can help make that transition a little smoother for all involved. www. sproutgifted. com
1. Take a tour of the school and run through the class schedule, especially if children must walk to different classes on their own. Knowing where and when they are supposed to be can greatly reduce first-day stress.
2. Start the morning routine a few weeks before school starts, particularly getting them up early! Getting enough sleep and starting with a healthy breakfast can put any child in the best of spirits.
3. If you are enrolled in a new school, contact the teacher and see if they can recommend a student in the class that would be a good fit for your child. Arrange a one-on-one play date so that there is at least one friendly face on the first day of school.
4. Get the kids involved in buying and organizing the school supplies. This can be both a fun and educational activity!
5. Discuss their expectations of the upcoming year. Have the kids write out (or dictate in the case of younger children) what their hopes and fears are; you may be surprised at what they are most concerned about as well as what they are most looking forward to.
6. Lay out their clothes the night before school starts. Selecting their outfit ahead of time gives children – and parents – one less thing to do on that very busy morning! The same goes for packing lunches ahead of time.
7. Limit after-school activities during the first few weeks of school. Keeping a routine is important, so if your child has piano lessons every Tuesday you should not necessarily cancel. However, don’t load up your child with school-offered activities right away, even if your child wants to! Homework and study time may change dramatically year to year, and children need downtime to relax and de-stress from their day. It may take a few weeks to fully grasp the demands of their new grade.
8. Walk/Drive the route to school. If you walk to school or to a bus stop, make sure you test out the route at least once. If you drive to school, test it out during the time that you will be driving it to get an accurate picture of how long it will take you. Don’t forget to do this during the pick-up time, too! Nothing is quite as stressful to a child as the feeling of being left at school – even if you’re just a few minutes late.
9. Make sure you set aside time after school each day to check in and see how they’re doing. Give them your full attention to tell you all about the kid who threw his retainer away during lunch, or the multitude of books they have to carry this year. Your undivided attention helps more than you’d expect.
10. As a parent, be enthusiastic about school starting! If you are nervous about the upcoming year, your child will be too. Talk about the great things that will happen that year.
About Lauren Callaway, Owner/Director, Head Teacher:
Lauren opened Sprout in the summer of 2004 to fulfill a need for social and academic enrichment for Chicago's gifted children. Prior to Sprout she received a degree in elementary education from Purdue University and taught third grade at a private school in Lincoln Park. She became interested in gifted education after researching how to teach a highly gifted child placed in her classroom. Lauren then worked with Joan Smutny and taught at National Louis's Center for the Gifted. She enjoys working closely with parents at Sprout and loves the daily surprises of gifted children's creativity.
Do you think your child might be gifted? Click here to view a personality checklist, and then contact Sprout to learn how to enrich their talents and natural gifts. http://sproutgifted. com/checklist. html (http://sproutgifted. com/checklist. html)
# # #
