Problems during school assembly

[Govinda]

My (just turned) 5 year old has real problems sitting at peace during school assembly which are once, sometimes twice a week for an hour or so. He tells me they are so boring. At parents night I was told he is constantly touching and prodding at other children during them. Also I have another older child at the school who comes home every time they have assembly telling me tales about the 5 year old getting a row/moved etc. Apart from at assembly his behaviour is fine and he has plenty of friends. I don't know what to do about it. Obviously ive spoken to him about keeping his hands to himself and trying to sit quietly but not much I can do not being there. I even suggested he just sit and daydream if hes bored (although not sure that was the brightest idea). Anyone have any tips?

If he was being really disruptive I'm sure the teacher would be in touch would you. The teacher probably sees his behaviour as pretty standard for many 5 year olds. You could always ask her about it if you want reassurance.

An hour is too long for any child never mind a YR child.

The 'rule of thumb' is generally their age x 2 add 2 so a 5 year old is 'expected' to sit and concentrate for about 12 minutes. As a teacher, we are expected NOT to have Y1 children sitting on the carpet longer than 15 minutes and even then, carpet time is not them listening to me talk; it's about teaching and learning - the learning being done by them that is engaging and interactive. Any adult would struggle to sit for an hour in assembly!

I do suspect that your older child is exaggerating though. Our assemblies are 15 minutes tops and YR (our school could be different) never attend assemblies unless end of term or there is a special speaker. One assembly recently was 50 minutes and that was an external speaker who really didn't have a clue about keeping 4 and 5 year olds engaged!

Ask the school how long assemblies are and politely explain that you don't expect such young children to sit and concentrate for any longer than 15 minutes and if the younger children are expected to maintain the same attention span as a child 6 to 7 years their senior, then some strategies need to be employed by the school NOT you.

If assemblies are an hour long then they are being unreasonable and tell them that you cannot enforce or punish your child to sit for that length of time ... and they're on their own!