The educational transition from elementary to middle school can mean a very impressive change for some children: they will no longer be able to see their beloved teachers or their best friends; The pedagogical methods will be different and the academic demands that they face in this new educational cycle will be modified, not to mention the physical, biological and emotional changes they will experience as they move towards adolescence.
You start to think if your child and the family nucleus will adapt and solve without problems the challenges of this new stage. Undoubtedly, your children will require understanding and support to solve any possible stress they might face with their new classmates and/or teachers. Therefore, it is relevant to consider that the relationship between parents and children will change.
Children must develop in order to create new social relationships and this implies a change of interests: they may give more importance to new friends; their student status will change, that is, in the last grade of elementary they were “the seniors” of the school. However, in middle school they will be “the freshmen” or “the new ones".
Here are some suggestions on how to deal with the change in grade level:
- It will be important that you maintain proper communication with your new teachers so that you can express your doubts, comments, concerns about cases of bullying, etc.
- Continue to encourage communication with your children at this stage. Show them your love and respect. Let them know that they are heard and that they can count on you. This will be important to strengthen your family ties.Thus, there can be a two-way communication, in which both you and your children know how to listen.You will be able to address issues related to sexuality, which will be highly relevant at this stage. Also it will help to detect signs of possible cases of bullying or share any concerns and spread joy with the good news.
- If during elementary school, you and your children developed study and recreation routines, at that stage, it will be of crucial to emphasize continuity and keep on instilling the importance of good habits in the formation of your children's personality.
- Encourage him or her to abide by study times, recreation, rest, extracurricular workshops, etc.
- Support your children in those new interests or skills they are discovering. Your child may want to take a guitar course or workshop or enroll in an extracurricular sports discipline.
- Related to the previous point, you should establish an appropriate study space, intended exclusively for this purpose. If they already have it, it will be a matter of redecorating it to the new tastes of your children. This work can be done together to promote family unity.
At Ameyali Puerto Vallarta College, we are aware of these changes in our children that make the transition from primary to secondary level and therefore we focus our efforts, both on academic rigor and on:
- Self-knowledge.
- Group membership and inclusion.
- Study habits.
- Balance between academic activities and social activities.
In February, month of pre-registration, we invite you to meet us and ask for your guided visit to the school.
Contact us us and live the Ameyali experience!