Advice re my 5yr old who's just started school!

[leatherlover]

Hi there, my 5yr started school in Sept and is finding it tough. She's very emotional and absolutely knackered-all very normal I hear you say...however she is also adjusting to the birth of a sibling this year and her behaviour is different....in a challenging way! She's moody and argumentative. She doesn't want to go to school and says she doesn't like it most days because of the work, because of the rough stuff in the playground (she's come home with a bruise on her face before now)and hates school dinners. She's always been a fussy eater but eats even less than ever. I find it hard to get her to cooperate getting dressed/undressed and generally just finding it pretty stressful. I would have expected her to have accepted her sister and settled at school by now or am I expecting too much of her?

aww bless her. I think starting school is a HUGE thing so no, i wouldn't necessarily expect them to have settled down into it after just a couple of months. it's a huge change from their previous life, so to speak

i think i would sit down with her and have a talk, and come up with some ideas for helping her have a better time there,
so, perhaps if she has some friends already then she could make sure she plays with them and that they stay away from any rough, older children in the playground?
perhaps you could have a quick chat with the teacher and say that she is getting a bit upset, has had this bruise and could they maybe just keep an eye out for her
maybe you could find out the name of whoever is on playground duty so that she knows the person, and then say that if other kids are being very rough, or if she is upset or worried she can go and find this person and tell them?

can she take a pakced lunch to school?

I know I feel awful for her. It's a big school and she went to a very small nursery. She has got a couple of friends there but they seem more robust than her. I've spoken to the teacher who is a real star but has a very tough job to do with some of the more challenging kids. She actually said that two thirds (of a class of 30)would have to be taught how to behave aswell as read and write and the rest of it. Two thirds!!!I've also switched dd to packed lunches on the proviso that she eats a cooked meal at home (she's a sausage and chips merchant in the winter and won't have anything with sauce on it so no stews and lovely winter warmers). There was a bit of an improvement but she's reverting back to the bangers!!!The baby is definitely an issue. It's so difficult because she's crawling so I have to watch her carefully which sometimes disrupts a game I may be playing with dd1 after school...