The most important thing for children to bring to school is a healthy happy prepared mind that is ready to learn. Without that everything else is just sort of useless.
- Anxiety gets in the way of learning.
- The teachers first impression is not good and that set's the tone
- Everything then just spirals downward
When this happens year after year children just get further and further behind.
Attitude Affects Everything
Those who approach school with a smile quickly surpass those who come in with a frown. Here are some tips to help
1) Physiology - It is becoming more and more clear that the fastest way to control our emotions is through our physiology. Posture and breathing have a profound effect on attitude. Teach your child how to feel better just by pulling their shoulders back, standing up straight, and breathing deep into their belly. It sounds to easy but it works.
2) Power Pose - This is more physiology but it takes it one step further. You can learn about power pose here.
3) Reinforce with Mirror Neurons - If you get anxious over your child's anxiety you will amplify their anxiety. So make sure that you practice 1 and 2 above and use them yourself. If you can keep yourself strong emotionally then this strength will lift your child up instead of causing more worry. In other words, be strong for your child and their mirror neurons will pick that up and reciprocate. It's not magic, it's neuroscience. (But sometimes it seems like magic)
These are useful tools and will get you through the tough days until you get your child on a complete program for helping them develop the needed skills