6 Subtle Warning Signs Your Child May Need Help in School

There used to be a time when schools like the Montessori schools in Singapore or private school in the UK are the only educational institutions known to demand so much from students. They provide such a rigorous curriculum paired with the holistic learning philosophy that achieving excellence is just expected. But because of the demand of society itself, school systems all over the world have started adapting curriculums that champion creative problem solving and collaboration.

This is good news for parents because it means schools are giving children the materials and the platform to enhance their innate curiosity and love for learning. However, it also means that our kids may experience difficult moments in school.

Child stress from school-related activities

Parents are usually the last people to know about their child’s performance in school. They may be too embarrassed to talk about how hard their studies are getting or they are still trying to find their own rhythm when working on their tasks. Either way, when a child is in distress because of school, parents must be there to help them cope with.

There are a lot of cases where students isolate themselves, experience mood swings, or become distant because of school. They are too tired to process their own feelings about the work ahead and so they keep it to themselves instead. If we wait for them to lash out, they may already be under too much pressure.

So here are some telltale signs you may need to offer help with their school work.

Uncomfortable when talking about school

According to the My Parenting Journal, young children do not always talk about what makes them uncomfortable. They may not even know they are not too happy about a topic until after you have helped them unpacked their feelings towards something. Check if they fidget around when you ask them about school or if they try to skirt around the topic whenever it is brought up.

Become too dependent to you

You need to observe their behavior too. Children who normally do things on their own and then suddenly become clingy, it might mean they are having problems in school. This is usually a behavior that comes it is more of a social problem rather than an academic problem. You might want to look into how they are doing with other students in school, if they are being bullied, or if they just had a fallout with a friend.

 Mood changes before and after school

Some children are very expressive. They may not tell you how they feel about school, but you can usually see it in their faces. See if they are always frustrated before and after going to school. How intense is it becoming? How often does it occur?

Become distant and depressed

Child depression is becoming increasingly common as stress is because of many factors, one of which is the heavyweight load from school. If you start noticing that your child has started isolating themselves, preferring to stay in bed more, or are generally low-energy when they did not used to be, check up on them.

Difficulty focusing on tasks

Low test scores is one of the signs which means their school work is suffering from their stress. This can be easily resolved by helping them study every day. The key here is patience. Especially if your children are usually high scorers, it may be that they are just too overwhelmed with school work that they did not have time to study for anything else at all. Test them regularly on what they know, but make it enjoyable. Sometimes, simply preparing the snacks that they want and asking what you can do to help reduce the amount of work they need to do helps.

When you see these signs, it is important to address them immediately. If you need to talk to their teachers about your children so that you can collaborate on what needs to be done, it may be helpful. Keep these in mind the next time you see a change in your child’s behavior.