It’s a new school year for parents too
The end of summer
If you try to do some research on ‘start of term’ you’ll find lots of exemplar timetables, letters about school uniform and team building activities for new tutor groups. You may struggle to find anything about the potential impact of a new school year on parents.
Long family summers of enforced cohabitation are loved by some and endured by others, however the return to school at the beginning of September can affect some parents much as a
mini empty nest syndrome. The start of the school year can represent a significant, and much overlooked, change for parents.
Challenges old and new
From September, children are no longer under their parents direct oversight during the school week and concerns which had been subdued over the summer can begin to loom large again.
School friendships, anxiety about attendance, motivation in class, poor study habits and more.
All of these buried issues and more can return with knock on effects not just for children but for their parents too. Sometimes parents become preoccupied with the ominous feeling that the worries of previous academic years are set to repeat themselves.
Parents are affected too
The fact that parents may well be getting back into their own work routines in September, either in the office or at home, does not diminish the potential impact of their children’s experiences with school. Parents frequently think about their children during the working day. They worry, they become anxious, they can even begin to question their own competence in the parental role. All of this affects parents’ happiness and potentially their proficiency at work, leading incidentally to another cause for worry.
Here’s what parents can do
The good news is that parents can do something about this situation. September can be a new start not just for children at school but for their parents too. Indeed it can be the perfect time to make a change and do something to break unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour.
Coaching is the perfect way for parents to discuss their concerns and to come up with workable ways to make things better, both in terms of their own feelings and in the practical strategies they are using with their child. To be specific, our coaching:
-gives parents space to share their feelings and reflect with someone who is on their side and
will really listen to all they have to say
-enables parents to make their own considered decisions about how to make positive changes
-where desired, provides parents with practical strategies on how to bring about effective
change.
… if you are a parent who wants to take positive action and make this school year a new start for you as well as for your child, for a free initial
conversation.