Parenting: Changing schools affects children

Third term is coming to an end and many parents are planning to change their children's schools next year.

Most parents think once they change the school, a child adjusts promptly, make new friends and settles in with ease.

However, did you know that changing a child's school comes with consequences?

Research shows that changing children's schools more than three times before the age of eight years can affect them negatively.

A research done in Warwick Medical School in the UK, states that the changes have an emotional and social toll on children.

"Children can suffer lots of anxiety, their grades decline and can fail to find good friends," the research states. Children also find it difficult if the school they are taken to is of a lower social status than the previous one.

The opposite is also true of children whose parents upgrade status. In both circumstances, the best approach is to change to an intermediate school so that children can adjust better.

The early years of learning are critical to a child's development, psychologists say.

As a parent, consult teachers, doctors and psychologists before changing your children's school. And, even after consultations have been made, parents have an obligation to support a child to adjust by helping them with homework, friendship and listening to them.

mamatendo@yahoo.com