| If your child suffers from some kind of anxiety, the | | | | other words, parents of such children should not |
| start of a school year can sometimes be an pleasant | | | | automatically assume that the child is being lazy – |
| experience for him or her. This can result in school | | | | there may be and often are deeper issues involved |
| phobia, or school avoidance – a syndrome that | | | | and that affect the overall student assessment. |
| shows up most visibly when there is a new school | | | | Teachers will try to identify if learning difficulties or |
| building involved (think about the first day of middle of | | | | stress about homework are possible |
| high school). Children with school phobia have a | | | | reasons.Teachers are quite familiar with the signs of |
| harder-than-usual time with separating from their | | | | school phobia and have their own modus operandi for |
| parents, and any number of strange medical | | | | tackling it. The first thing they might do is send the |
| complaints may crop up. | | | | parents home, since their presence only makes things |
| Does this may sound familiar to you? One surely sees | | | | worse. This has to be done tactfully so as not to |
| a lot of discussion about school phobia on parent | | | | affect parent-teacher relations adversely. Most |
| teacher networking sites and at local PTA meetings. | | | | schools have a school counselor who is trained in |
| Here is some advice for parents with school phobic | | | | calming and reassuring school phobic children. If a |
| children. | | | | school bully is involved, they will address the problem |
| A child suffering from school phobia is usually not very | | | | in a tactful manner. |
| open about what he or she is feeling, so the resistance | | | | Nevertheless, the parent connection is still the most |
| and fear show up in the form of medical symptoms, | | | | vital one in understanding and handling school phobia. |
| tantrums or obscure justifications for staying at home. | | | | Being a parent, you can help your child deal with home |
| In fact, a child with school phobia feels unsafe, and this | | | | based issues best if they exist. A secure home front |
| may often have something to do with issues at home. | | | | goes a long way in giving a child more comfort about |
| A school bully is one of the most common reasons | | | | going to school. If your child is displaying a chronic |
| and there's one at every level, be it elementary school, | | | | avoidance of school, it pays to consider how problems |
| middle school or high school. | | | | in the parents’ relationship with each other, |
| However, school avoidance behavior is also seen | | | | excessive pampering or expectations or any other |
| among kids whose parents are divorcing or in whose | | | | troubles at home may be contributing. If you have a |
| family a death has recently occurred. (In fact, children | | | | child with school phobia, try discussing the problem on |
| and divorce coexist uneasily on many other fronts, as | | | | your parent teacher networking forum – these |
| well). Other possible triggers are financial issues at | | | | usually yield some high-grade advice for parents on |
| home, a change of schools or learning difficulties. In | | | | such issues. |