Recommendations on adapting children to school after the holiday

Asst. Prof. Dr. Sarem Özdemir in charge of the Preschool Teacher Education Program at the Faculty of Education, Cyprus International University (CIU) made recommendations for the parents on how to adapt their children (5 - 8) to the school again after the February break.

Children, who have a lot of rest and fun during the holiday, have difficulties in transitioning to hard work, said Özdemir. She also noted that fun and easy activities are very useful in this regard.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Özdemir stated that it would be beneficial to go shopping together with a list determined together: “It is important not to do shopping outside the list because the child should learn at an early age that unlimited action and all requests cannot be fulfilled”.

The school bag of the child should also be prepared together: “Taking the monthly activity plans from the teacher in the first week, and these days can be marked on a large calendar with the child”.

The importance of having healthy communication between parents and their children about their education and training life was also highlighted: “A sketching notebook can be used as a diary on return from the school and drawings can be done on the weather of the day and how they felt at school that day (facial expressions). This will enable parents to both strengthen the communication with their children and learn what is going on at school without upsetting them”.

Özdemir recalled that the pictorial labels such as days, months and seasons can be adhered to the diary and “you can ask the child to draw something learned or experienced at school that day on the diary which can be used interactively”.

It is pointed out that it would not be right to expect the child to enter an intense working pace as soon as the school resumes and the work order should be spread over time in a balanced way.

The importance of peer communication for adaptation is emphasized: “Popcorn can be prepared in a transparent bag for every child in the classroom and the packs can be decorated. An emotional activity can be created by ensuring that these packs are shared with the child's classmates”.