The British newspapers and media have spotlighted the topic of misbehaving children in school recently. The topic of discussion usually ends with the answer that entails kicking troublemakers out of the classroom setting.
This time the discussion was little bit different though. The new twist is that the notion that parents should stay home and watch their children once the kids have been kicked out of school for misbehaving.
This doesn’t make any sense and is a nuisance to parents. The discussion also describes letting special schools stay open or even building new special schools for these children.
The child has been removed from the regular classroom which shows that they are having difficult time working in with the normal student setting. Then the solution must comprise discovering an educational setting where students can be successful, right?
This leads you to wonder what you can do as a parent if your child has been sent home from school for misbehaving. I have thought about this in detail after dealing with the very same issues with my oldest child.
1. DO NOT sit around blaming yourself for being useless parents. That won’t help anyone. Of course your parenting could improve - that is true for everyone. So read some books and do some learning, not moaning.
2. Do not blame it all on your child’s school. Your school does care for your child and maybe the mishandled education of your child is due to issues beyond their boundaries like not having enough resources or inadequate teacher training.
3. Ask for help from the local education authority (LEA). They should be able to supply an alternative learning setting for your child. You need to be persistent when you contact them, but avoid being mean. You can ask your politicians and newspapers to help you get the engine humming if you need to.
4. DO be prepared to consider alternative placements, such as special schools or even residential placements. Better to deal with it now, than to have your child growing up with the bad behaviors!
5. DO consider the possibility of problems such as ADHD and Asperger’s being at the root of the problems. The right environment makes and enormous difference for children such as these, which is why it is crucial to find the right type of school environment.
6. Don’t be tempted to look beyond your child’s behavior or kid yourself into thinking that they are a model student. You may feel like defending your child and think that everyone is wrong about his behavior. It is more productive to acknowledge that there could be a problem and work it out with help from the LEA.
Those are just some of the issues you may have to deal with, so be prepared for them.
The previous tips should be of some assistance to any parent struggling with a child’s behavior. Plus, if you work in the education field please refrain from pointing to kicking the child out of the classroom as the only solution. That would not be a solution and wouldn’t be of benefit to anyone.
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