What can parents do when preparing their children for elementary school?

Parenting Tips

2-9

Source: Unleashing Mind, Psychotherapist, Dr. Lee Wai Tong

Next semester, K3 children will start to prepare for elementary school. Apart from getting to know the new school, preparing stationery, and learning to wear school uniforms, what else can parents do to help their children transition smoothly and make a good transition to elementary school? It is often the case that children will feel anxious when they encounter many unknown things. To deal with the anxiety of children, it is best to prepare for the situation in advance.

What’s for preparation? Open the schedule before school and remind the children, “Look, there will be a recess after these two classes, and then another recess after these two classes.” They will know in their minds when there will be a short break, then lunchtime, and then the school will be over after a while.

2-8

In terms of teachers, they don’t know who the teacher is, so we can say, “This teacher should be a male teacher, and this one is a female teacher.” This is the advance preparation so that the children know more about the things that have not happened and are better prepared. In particular, many elementary schools will hold orientation activities. Parents should not think that they don’t need to participate now because they are busy and their children will only return to school in September. If you can participate, you should do so, as it actually helps children know more and be well prepared for the unknown.

With all the preparations we have just made, what are the other minor things that we need to pay attention to? We say that children are anxious when they enter first grade because they are unprepared for something that has not happened yet, and then they feel worried. When they have a good grasp of what they need to do in each class, their anxiety will be much less.

Some issues are beyond the control of the parents, namely, his classmates. Children face some situations, such as when classmates next to them make a lot of acts like going to the child’s place to take a look at his things suddenly. These are not good times for children, but there is no way to prevent them, so they need to be nurtured, especially if they have just entered the first grade. Talk to them more after school and ask them if they have encountered any unpleasant things so that they can express themselves. They will find that even if they are worried, they can talk to their parents after school, and they will be comforted by their parents, and their anxiety will be reduced a bit. Then, the next day, when the unhappiness is over, they will be happy to go back to school again.

2-7

Every parent wants to ask their children more when they come home from school and know more about the school picture. Parents should learn more questioning skills so that children can say more and the picture is more complete. Some children are more extroverted and talk more, so it is easier for parents to understand; some children are more introverted. A major characteristic of an introverted child is that he or she has not yet grasped the situation internally and therefore does not know how to express it.

When dealing with introverted children, you can make it simple by drawing a poster with many different emotions and asking them what they are feeling today. When they see the pictures, they will think about them, and sometimes they will point to “angry,” sometimes to “sad,” and sometimes to “happy.” This way, they can be asked what they are happy, angry, or sad about. They will then have room to express these emotional things.

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Parents Zone

準備小朋友升小,家長可做甚麼?

家長錦囊

2-9

資料來源:心啟晴心理學家李偉堂博士

到下學期,K3小朋友要開始準備上小學,除了認識新的學校、預備文具和學習穿校服等,還有甚麼家長可以協助他們順利過渡,做好升小銜接?很多時候小朋友遇到很多未知的事物便會感到焦慮,應對小朋友的焦慮情況,最好事先做好預備工作。

甚麼是做準備?在上學前打開時間表,提醒小朋友:「你看上完這兩節課後便會有小息,然後上完這兩節課後又會有小息」,他們在心裡便會知道大約甚麼時候有小休,然後到午膳時間,再上課一會便放學了。

2-8

在老師方面,他們不知道誰是老師,我們便可以說:「這位老師應該是男老師,這位是女老師。」這樣就是事前的預備,讓小朋友對未發生的事情知道更多更好地做準備。尤其很多小學都會舉辦迎新活動,家長千萬不要因為忙碌,覺得九月開學時才回校,現在不用參與。能參與的便參與,這樣其實是幫助小朋友認識多點,面對未知的事物也能有充分的預備。

有了剛才那些充足的預備,還有甚麼細微的事情是我們需要留意的呢?我們說小朋友升上小一會焦慮,是對未發生的事情,沒有任何準備,然後會感到擔心。當他們能夠掌握每一節課整體需要做甚麼事情,焦慮的感覺便會減少很多。

有些則不是父母可以掌握的範圍之内,就是他的同學們。小朋友會面對一些情況,例如旁邊的同學很多小動作,會走到小朋友的位置拿他的東西來看。這些對小朋友來說是不順利的時間,但這些是沒法預防,所以要培養一下他們。尤其他們剛踏進小一,在放學後多點和他們聊天,問他有沒有遇到不順利的事情,讓小朋友可以說出來抒發一下。他們便會發現即使有些擔心,放學後可以和爸媽說,爸媽也會安慰他,他們的不安感也會再減少一點。然後到了第二天,那些不高興的事情已經放下了,他們便會重新再來開心上學。

2-7

每位爸媽也想在小朋友放學回來時,問他們多點東西,知道多點上學的畫面。家長應該學習多些問問題的技巧,讓小朋友如何可以說多點内容,畫面更完整。其實有些小朋友比較外向點,多說話的,對父母來說當然會容易明白點;有些小朋友則比較内斂,内斂的小朋友有很大的特徵,就是他的内心還未能夠掌握情況,所以不知道該怎麼表達。

面對内向的小朋友時,可以簡單一點,就是畫一張海報,上面有很多不同的情緒圖案,然後問他今天經歷了甚麼心情。他們看到圖案便會想,可能有時候會指著生氣、有時候會指著傷心、有時候又會指著開心,這樣就可以問他發生甚麼事感到高興、生氣或傷心?他們就有空間表達有這些情緒的事情。

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Parents Zone

Since childhood, children have learned the great method of storage and how to pack up toys without difficulty

Parenting Tips

2-1

Source:Taiwan Professional organizing advisor, Yu Zhi Lin

One of the parents’ nightmares is working hard to pack up the toys every night, but the next morning they were scattered all over the floor again. Pack up your stuff. How can parents teach their children to pack up their toys?

We decide how big the storage box should be based on the child’s age, which is about 1 to 2 years old. To prevent children from putting toys in their mouths, toys at this time are usually larger, so we need a slightly larger storage box. When children are younger, our standards can be very low, mainly to let them know that they need to clean up after playing with toys, pack them up in the storage box, and put all the toys in it. At this age, we need to train them to be tidy.

2-2

By the time children are a little older, about 3 to 5 years old, they can already have a preliminary classification. Know that there are different types of toys. At that time, the storage box does not have to be so big, we can change a smaller storage box, according to the different types of toys a little classification. We adjust the rules of the game a little higher; you can paste some classification labels outside the box, with patterns, colors, or word cards, so that children can easily identify. For example, a car, with a car pattern or a word card “Car”, so that children can slowly learn to remember this classification.

When children go to elementary school, they will have their own ideas and know what to put away where, so our storage box can become smaller. Then we can store many small things for children, such as little girls’ ornaments, small beads, and accessories for Barbie dolls. We can also use such a small box to sort, because after such a long time of training, children will find it very natural to clean up, and parents will also feel very relaxed.

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Parents Zone Parents Zone

自小學習收納大法 執拾玩具無難度

家長錦囊

2-1

資料來源:台灣收納整理師于之琳

家長的其中一個惡夢,就是每晚辛苦將玩具放好,第二天早上又散滿一地。自己玩具自己執,家長可以如何教導小朋友執拾玩具呢?

我們依據小朋友的年紀來決定收納箱應該要多大,小朋友大概在小寶寶1至2歲的時候。為避免小朋友將玩具放到嘴巴,這個時候的玩具通常也比較大件,我們需要的收納箱就稍微大一點。在小朋友年紀比較小的時候,我們的標準可以很低很低,主要讓他們知道玩完玩具之後是需要收拾的,要收拾到收納箱,把所有的玩具收進去就好。在這個年紀,我們需要訓練他們的是收納。

2-2

到了小朋友再大一點,大概3至5歲時,他們已經可以有初步分類。知道玩具類型有不一樣。那時候的收納箱就不一定要這麼大了,我們可以換一個小一點的收納箱,依據不同類型的玩具稍為分類一下。我們把遊戲規則調高一點,可以在收納箱外面貼一些分類標籤,以圖案、顏色或字卡,方便小朋友辨認。例如車子,有車子的圖案或用字卡「Car」,讓小朋友慢慢去學習記得這種分類。

 

當小朋友升上小學,他們會有自己的想法,會知道甚麼東西要收在哪裡,我們的收納盒就可以變得更小。然後可以收納很多小朋友的小東西,像小女生的飾品、小珠珠及Barbie娃娃的配件。我們也可以利用這麼小的盒子來分類,因經過這麼長時間的培養。小朋友會對於收拾東西是一個很自然的事情,不會感到很反感,家長也會感到很輕鬆。