starting school stress

[bethin]

Hi all,
Im new to this and hope you can help, my daughter is starting school in sept and shes decided she aint going! she apparently doesnt need or want to go to big school, shes quite happy at nursery??????!!!

We have talked about school, got all the required uniform etc etc, shes chosen her big girl lunch box and is fine with all that but now when we talk she gets a headache and starts being violently sick? is this stress? do i need to be seeing a dr? im so confused, generally shes very fit and well!
thanks in advance for any advice offered!

It is fear of the new and unknown. I would presume she is going with others from nursery? Invite a friend who will be starting around to play. Arrange to meet the first morning and go in together. Don't talk about it too much-just be matter of fact.

Has she been to any induction days or anything? Does she know anyone there? Is she aware that she will be spending most of the time playing, just like at nursery?

Agree that's its probably best to avoid talking about it too much. Unless you are seriously prepared to home educate, presumably she is going to go to big school. So be completely matter of fact about it and avoid building it into a huge deal. She's the right age to go to school. There will be lots of friends and fun things to do. She'll be absolutely fine when she's got the hang of it.

And be careful of conversations with well-meaning relatives who want to make a fuss. My eldest daughter got quite wound up about going to school. It turned out that she had been overhearing lots of people saying things like "oh wow, I can't believe it, she seems so young to be going to school!" etc etc etc. As they do. She thought she really was "too young". It came as a huge surprise to her that all the other kids were just as young as her and they spent all day playing with toys!

I would agree with AChicken-don't talk about it much. All the uniform, lunch boxes etc are a bit scary for DCs who don't like change. Just say that it will be similar to nursery and she will have fun. I'm sure that she will be fine after the first day. Teachers will be used to those with a wobble on the morning. Don't make a big thing of the first day. There was a thread where a woman was upset because her DH wasn't taking the day off work!! There seems to be a trend for making a BIG thing of it. Just treat it as matter of fact thing, that will happen.