How parents can help anxious kids settle into school or childcare at the start of the year
Children are taking longer to settle into daycare or school in the new year because they’re more anxious, can’t focus and don’t know how to play with other kids, experts say. Find out why.
Children are taking longer to settle into daycare or school at the start of the year because they’re more anxious, unable to focus and don’t know how to play with other kids, experts say.
They blame excessive screen use, the ongoing fallout from Covid lockdowns, and our busy modern lives.
The result is that teachers are spending a lot more time helping children adjust at the start of the new school year.
At G8 Education centres, the 41,000 Australian kids in care go to meditation and yoga classes, the aim being to give the children the skills to better self-regulate their emotions.
There are also quiet areas, so children can go somewhere to calm down.
G8’s chief education and learning officer, Ali Evans, said some children are displaying increasingly complex behaviours.
“Some children might have had excessive screen time, which may impact their ability to self-regulate,” Ms Evans said.
“Self-regulation is really critical for being able to focus, pay attention and become a successful learner.”
She said when it comes to transitioning to new classrooms, children in Victoria, who were at home for a lot longer during different lockdowns, find it harder.
Child psychologist Deirdre Brandner said for some children, starting childcare might be the first time they’ve not had access to that “self-soothing device” parents normally give them when they’re bored.
“They’re also used to parents reacting quickly to their demands,” Ms Brandner said.
“That’s really disconcerting for the child because they’re not used to having to delay their needs being met.”
She said our busy lives mean parents have less time to do a puzzle with their kids or read a book, so children are not learning how to focus for longer periods of time.
They’re also spending less time playing with other children, and educators are having to teach them how to take turns and share.
“When I’ve had to go into centres to do observations, some children are quite lost because they don’t know how to engage,” Ms Brandner said. “They might witness an activity going on but because they haven’t had a lot of play experience they don’t know how to enter that activity and maintain that presence.”
She said preventing young children from scrolling through short video clips is a good idea if parents want to help their kids be able to focus for longer periods of time.
A healthy diet, sufficient sleep and creating a routine are also vital for settling kids into the new school year.
Ms Evans said even if parents are doing all the right things, some kids are not as resilient to change as others.
Bridget Hickey, 37, said she’s parented both her children the same, but her boy Harry, 4, always struggles at the start of the school year, while her daughter Ada, 2, “doesn’t care” and is so absorbed in playing, she doesn’t even say goodbye.
“In this instance, they’re just two very different children,” Ms Hickey, whose children attend The Sanctuary, at Morningside, Brisbane, said.
“With Harry we help him by talking about what’s going to happen, so he has time to ask questions,” Ms Hickey said.
“I listened to a parenting podcast which advised drawing a heart on my hand and his hand so if he misses us, he can press on it. That seems to have helped.”
Originally published as How parents can help anxious kids settle into school or childcare at the start of the year
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