Office Hours
Lara Quiroga is community outreach coordinator in the School of Education. My child is in kindergarten and cries every morning when she gets on the bus. What can I do to make the transition from home to school easier? First, reassure your child. Make sure you’re in touch with all of the things that are going on during the day with the child at school so you can prepare her for how much fun they’re going to be having. It’s also important for parents to make sure that their child knows what they’re doing during the day … so they don’t think you’re just at home, having a grand old time, and so they have a sense of purpose.
4 | The Extra Mile | Fall 2008
Office Hours is a new feature for which we ask SNHU faculty to answer your questions about their areas of expertise.
I think with younger children who might be in a preschool or child-care situation, it’s very natural to have communication with the teachers. Sometimes, once you put your child on the bus, that easy way of communicating gets lost. So it’s important to maintain or set up a level of communication. Your child might be crying when they get on the bus – chances are they’re not crying when they get to school. They don’t have time to think about how much they miss mommy. In a slightly more challenging situation, where if you contact the teacher and the teacher says it’s not until late morning
that she’s calmed down and gotten away from thinking about how sad she is, then it might be appropriate for the parent and teacher to develop some sort of behavior chart and reward system. It doesn’t have to be a toy. It can be an extra 15 minutes of computer time. Maybe it’s a dessert one night after dinner. Set the goal low at first, maybe two or three out of the five days (that she doesn’t cry), then do that for a couple of weeks, then up the ante. Eventually they’ll do five days and it will become part of the routine, and you’ll be able to eliminate the reward system. I think communication is key – communication between the parent