School Refusal Behavior

School refusal behavior is quite prevalent among young children. The term ‘school refusal’ refers to various types of behaviors, comprising long absenteeism from the school, complaints of illness while getting ready for the school, tantrums or other emotional and behavioral issues, such as crying, clinging, yelling, which kids tend to show while stepping in the school and so on. Some studies have revealed that about 2-5% of school-going kids refuse to go to schools. This problem is quite common in children belonging to the age group of 5-6.

Several factors are responsible for school refusal behavior. Usually, kids refuse schools in order to avoid study and the strict disciplinary environment, escape peer groups and exams, stay close to their near and dear ones, and so on. At times, the fear of teachers and bully forces children to skip schools.

School refusal is often considered a behavioral challenge. Therefore, if it is not treated, it may have an adverse impact on a kid’s self-confidence, education, and socialization skills.

When it comes to treating school refusal behaviour, both parents and schools need to work in tandem. Further, the following tips may come in handy.

• At first, you should encourage your child to find out the positive sides of going to school. It can be spending more time with his/her best friend, leaning new things, doing new activities and so on. Thereafter, help your child identify the thing (s) that deters him/her from going to school. Once he/she identifies the thing (s), help him/her overcome all such fear with all the positive factors.
• Arrange frequent meetings with the school authority. If possible, introduce your kid to school gradually. Your kid will be able to adapt to school environments when he/she gets adequate time to realize the positive sides of school.
• Prepare a routine for your kid and encourage him/her to adhere to it. Following routine will help improve transition to school and reduce school refusal tendency.
• Last but not the least, have patience and keep encouraging your kid to go to school every day. Things will not change in one day; however, constant encouragement goes a long way in helping your kid overcome his/her school phobia.

Image Credit: freedigitalphotos.net