6 Challenges Your Child Might be Facing at School

Sending your child to school can be unnerving. It’s a big part of their lives, yet one you are not privy to. And your child will face challenges there. It’s only natural. But as a parent, you’d like to be able to help them through those challenges. You don’t want them to go through that alone.

In order to help them, however, it’s important to know what they’re more likely to struggle with. That way, you’ll know what to focus on when the time comes, and you might find it easier to help and support them.

1. Missing Home

A lot of kids, especially younger ones, don’t want to go to school at all. They’d rather stay home in a comfortable, familiar environment than go to an unfamiliar, anxiety-inducing setting. They’d rather stay with their caregivers rather than go to a place full of people who might not treat them as nicely.

2. Making Friends

Making new friends is difficult and intimidating, particularly if your child isn’t very sociable. And not having any friends at school can feel very lonely. It can make group activities in the classroom more difficult, but it can also make breaks feel isolating when there’s no one around to spend time with.

Alternatively, maintaining a friendship can also be difficult, and going to school when they’re going through a rough patch with a friend can also affect your child’s experience at school.

3. Academic Anxiety

Even when they’re fairly young, children are pressured to excel at school. They feel like they must pass their exams with good grades and be the best student in their class. It doesn’t help that the older they are, the harder this becomes. Both the material they have to study and the tests they have to take become more complex, and their anxiety also grows stronger.

4. Problems With Teachers

Your child may struggle at school for various reasons, and having trouble with one of their teachers is not uncommon. The problem might be that your child and their teacher don’t get along. However, it could also be that your child has been marked as a troublemaker by that specific teacher, and your child finds that unfair. Whatever the reason, your child is likely to struggle at school because of it, especially in that specific class.

5. Disabilities

If your child has any disability, physical or learning, then it’s likely they have trouble finding their footing at school. Their disability may set them apart from their peers, and they may struggle socially as a result.

They can also struggle in the classroom itself if they can’t do as well as their peers because of something related to their disability, which in turn can have a heavy impact on their self-esteem. The same problems apply to children who deal with other mental health problems, like depression or anxiety.

6. Bullying

It’s possible that your child might experience bullying. Unfortunately, not all children are kind, and mocking each other for the most minor of behaviors is more common than it should be. If your child is too young, they might not even understand what’s happening to them or how to respond appropriately, at which point they will need your help to move forward.

Supporting Your Child

It’s normal, as a parent, to want to support your child. It’s also normal to feel lost, to not know how to help. If your child is seriously struggling at school, to the point where it’s starting to affect their mental health, Fox Child and Family Therapy is here to help. Set an appointment today,  913-229-5691.