Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Anxious about school

6 replies

Starrythoughts · 11/09/2024 11:10

Posting on this thread too in hope someone has some guidance/kind words.

DS will be 4 this October and seeing all these first day of school photos are terrifying me. He'll be one of the older ones and while there's still a year to go, I just cannot imagine him being ready.

He has been at nursery/preschool since he was 9 months old and still cries most days I leave him there. The preschool identified some communication issues specifically around his understanding and referred him for speech and language therapy. We're still quite early days with this though.

I struggle to get much out of DS. He seems to be in his own world, a bit wary of other children and quite nervous generally. It's really difficult to get answers from him like what he's done that day.

I'm just so worried and am unsure how best to support him over the next year. Any advice would be much appreciated.

OP posts:
DaisyChain505 · 11/09/2024 11:12

A lot can change in the space of a year.

try not to be anxious about what isn’t here and just focus on the day/week ahead.

get all the help and advice you can from nursery and just deal with the now.

you will have lots of chances to have communication with this school before he starts and can let them know about anything that is relative so you can work together.

viques · 11/09/2024 13:11

He has nearly a whole year to grow and develop both physically and emotionally. A year is nearly a quarter of his entire existence so while it might not sound much to us as adults , in child development terms it is a massive amount of time.

Keep on working with the speech and language therapist, read to your child a lot so he is getting a rich input of language, join a local library and find out what activities they offer in the holidays and weekends. Try to encourage little acts of independence like putting toys away, clearing his plate away at mealtimes, hanging up his coat/ putting his shoes neatly/ putting on his hat etc, encourage independent toiletting/ hand washing. Encourage the development of physical skills, scooting, balance bike, swimming, kicking a football to develop confidence as well as large muscle skills. Play simple board games, look at the Orchard ones or try traditional,ones like snap or snakes and ladders, great for concentration, language skills, turn taking.

instead of asking directly “ what did you do at school today” think of other ways to elicit information to start a conversation. Did anything make you laugh at school today? Did you ride on the big bike or play in the sand? What was your job at tidy up time? Did you sing any songs today? I wonder if you can remember what fruit you had at fruit time?

But sometimes they just don’t want to talk about school, so talk about other things instead, look for conkers, or yellow cars, count how many dogs you see on the way home, or sing.

Encourage curiosity, take time to look at things closely, this time of year is great for looking at leaves, watching them change colour and texture, shuffling through them, having leaf fights,, looking at spider webs, seed heads etc .

SquigglePigs · 11/09/2024 14:27

A lot can change in a year. A friends son was never very happy at nursery. Didn't hate it but didn't go bouncing in every day like DD did. He's a very gentle soul and they were worried about the primary school transition too.

He's just gone into year 1 and is absolutely thriving. School just hit the right notes for him in a way nursery didn't.

Your little one may be similar.

Spinderellaseverywhere · 11/09/2024 14:32

My eldest was shy and quiet at nursery but he thrived at school with structure and routine. He’s very academic and loves learning. Sometimes the stronger / bossier characters dominate nursery a bit but this is generally a bit better controlled at school. Try not to worry too much (easier said than done!)

Flubadubba · 11/09/2024 18:23

You would be surprised how much they mature in the next year! DD is the oldest in her year and just started reception. The amount she has grown and matured since last September is amazing.

mynameiscalypso · 11/09/2024 18:26

I didn't think my DS was ready for school up to the day before he went I think. He had struggled at nursery for various reasons but Reception was the absolute making of him.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page