Help your child navigate the new normal at school

WITH more grades scheduled to return to school in the coming weeks, parents will have the important role of helping their child adjust to the new version of normal.

This is according to John Luis, Head of Academics at ADvTECH Schools, who says one way this can be achieved is by keeping the lines of communication open through frank conversations and feedback.

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‘Our children now face many challenges from different fronts, and despite their schools being familiar spaces, that to which they are returning is looking different to the way it did before.

‘It’s important that parents help students understand in an age-appropriate way that although we are going back to ‘normal’, things will be different for quite some time.

‘They prepare mentally and emotionally for the changes that may be on the cards,’ Luis said.

The first step is for parents to study the information they received from schools, so that they understand how adjusted logistics will work.

This include what will be expected from students in terms of mask wearing and social distancing, as well as any other novel processes and procedures.

Parents will also need to design and start implementing new routines.

‘School times may be staggered and there will be no extramurals, so the school day will also look different.

‘Parents who work may need to consider how they are going to manage these changed logistics and must devise a plan for how the day will look going forward.

‘Children would have, to some degree, become used to taking the day and their own time management on their own terms, so waking up very early again while it is still dark, and sticking to a stricter routine, may take some time getting used to,’ Lusi said.

‘There are many examples such as these, some minor and some major, of how the days and the lives of our children will be changing.

‘These will also take their toll, which is why communication is so important.’

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