GOING TO SCHOOL

Evening Star, Issue 22881, 12 February 1938, Page 26

GOING TO SCHOOL

Few people have more than a hazy recollection of their first day at school, and yet, to go into an unknown world at the tender age of five must be a big event in a child’s life. For the first time he has to stand alone. His mother is no longer there to run to when he is in trouble, or to share his pleasures. Some children accept the change stoically, and adjust themselves quickly to their new surroundings, but for others the first days at school are bewildering, and it is necessary to be extra patient with them. There are mothers who see their children go to school for the first time with a sinking 'heart. They feel that this is the laying of the 'foundation stone on which will be built the high and difficult barrier that divides one generation from another. It may be, but it may also bo the foundation of friendship.

The best way is to take an. interest in their new life and to grow familiar with the world that is threatening to absorb your little boy or your little girl. _ But you should never laugh at the things a child is taking seriously, or he will stop confiding in you! Above all, never do anything to make your child in any way conspicuous. Children, when they tease, can be ruthlessly unkind, and they nre_ quick to discover anything unusual in another child’s appearance. It is worth any amount of trouble in washing and marking, mending and making so that he or she shall not for any reason bo singled out. Whilst dependent at home, they were individual; independent at school, they ask only to bo in the crowd. It seems paradoxical, but it is so, _ They find that in being as far as possible like the others they can manage to stand alone. Until hef goes to school the fount of all wisdom and knowledge in a child’s life is his father and mother. At school he meets a teacher who may or may not bo wiser than his parents, but who will deal the first blow to his belief in their divine infallibility. School will be much less bewildering for a little boy if his parents uphold the teachings of his school-mistress and encourage him to respect her. If at the end of the day your child is irritable it will he because he needs food and rest. You should not reproach him. but deal with him quietly and tactfully, and it will not take him long to recover his spirits, i

After a quiet tea when school is forgotten for the day there is still an hour or two for the garden or the fireside for helping father, or for play until bedtime—an hour on which the school mistress does not encroach.