in England
Child anxiety
Just had parents evening for my 5 year old and the teacher mentions he lacks confidence during work as he is scared of getting things wrong so rather do it he just won’t.
He has struggled with the transition into year 1, as it’s a massive step. He hated going in at the begging of the year but recently settled in a lot better.
I have explained to him he won’t get told off and he should ask for help which he has started to but still gets really upset if he doesn’t understand or doesn’t know what to do.
I have gotten to the point where he might ask for help rather than try himself first, which I’ve explained that he should try himself first do but if he is still struggling then ask his teacher.
His teacher said today that he got upset because he didn’t know how to describe something so after help and still not understanding he got very teary.
I just don’t know what more I can do to help and wondered if anyone has ideas or went through this.
He still expresses that he doesn’t like school but I get that as it’s work and not play but I just want him to be happy and try his best.
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@Cathy thank you for this! We have been doing stuff like this. Just hopefully his confidence grows!x
It takes time but hopefully you’ll get there. Good luck! X
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Early years teacher here 🙋🏻♀️ It’s tricky when this happens. Maybe at home try to casually make mistakes of your own or get things wrong so you can demonstrate that adults make mistakes too and that it’s ok. Try to keep up a positive narrative about school and maybe try not to make this too big a thing so it becomes all consuming, as in focus on other things about school as well. What was lunch today? What did you play at break time? Oh your lesson was tricky today? Never mind, keep trying and you’ll get there. You can ask the teacher what they are learning about so you can do some at home too. Rather than sitting down formally though, it might be better to drop things into your everyday life so your little one doesn’t feel like they’re having to do extra schooling at home. Eg if it was describing something, whilst having dinner you could describe the food and say ‘oh isn’t that what you did in class today?’