Ayaw ko na mag-school…
I heard Gwen said this on her 3rd week of going to a toddler class. At first, I dismissed it as one of her tantrums because hey, she loves school. She enjoyed her summer class for 4 weeks last April. She didn’t cry every time we left her at the class. She was always proud to show her stars to us at home, she’s happy at school.
Taken during her summer class last April
Come June, I didn’t have hesitations to enroll her in a toddler class, I even tried to persuade the teachers to accept her in Nursery already because from their assessment, she knows more than her age (sorry, stage mom lang :). Things were smooth sailing until her 3rd week.
Last week, after yaya Rose left Gwen at school, the teacher aid said she was crying non-stop, she doesn’t want to draw, color, nor play with her classmates. Gwen cried until dismissal. The next days were a series of utuan and pilitan to convince her to go to school.
We’re confused on what happened at school that triggered Gwen to refuse going to school. Here are some of our speculations:
- During their PE day, the school merged the toddler, nursery and kindergarten classes. An older boy bumped Gwen causing her to lose balance. I dunno how she fell but it left a bruise on her chin. She cried but stopped after the teacher aid gave her jelly ace. 🙂
- They have one activity at school that requires turning off one of the lights. But the aid accidentally switched off the lights at the classroom, the room has covered windows so when lights are turned off, it’s pitch black. Gwen is afraid of unlit room, we sleep with a dim light on. I don’t know if she cried then but I’m sure she got afraid.
- Whenever I call her from the office asking what she did in school, she will always say “nag-color, pa-ulit-ulit…”. She got bored, maybe?
- Gwen loves singing and dancing. Sabi nga namin, dapat sa dance workshop na lang namin sya pinasok. So maybe she doesn’t want to draw and write, sumayaw at kumanta lang ang gusto.
Her teacher advised us not to force her to go to school tomorrow and on the next coming days. I hope she just needs time. I plan to take her to school one of these days too, instead of the yaya. I bought her new things, a new raincoat, favorite snacks just to entice her to go to school too, hindi effective!
What to do? May drop-out na agad ako? :p
Hi Badet! Na-bother ako dun sa bruise on her chin. The teachers should have given extra care sa mga toddlers.. 🙁
Nagdadalawang isip na tuloy ako sa school for Kailee kasi I’ve heard of horror stories na kids hitting other kids and the teachers have nothing to do or say but ‘accident po eh’
Baka nga na-bored siya, kasi if she knows most everything in toddler class, better to send her a level up para naman ma-pique yung curiousity again. But then again, I’m not expert! So, hahaha!! Nag-fefeeling lang ako…
Good luck sis!!
Hugs to Gwen!
Have you talked to the teacher sis? Baka she has any idea about what happened? or have you asked Gwen? or the yaya?
I was thinking yeah maybe give her time but you really have to find out kung bakit.
How many hours ba ang class niya? Had the same problem when my nephew was still in nursery, he is in kinder now. That time, his class was only for 2 hours, then added another hour for tutoring. Later did we realize that this was too much activity for them for a day, for a 3 years old.
First 2 weeks was ok, but after that, he started to learn to give excuses on not going. Investigate a little and found out that as times goes by, the environment and atmosphere at school changes. The teachers weren’t as warm and as patient as before. The room supposed to be airconditioned (2 AC units), but we found out that they only run 1 AC unit during class. Then the school service, they were mixed up with higher grade level students, so the thing is, they got drowned with the attention they needed from the kids of their age, they experience hostility and sometimes blunt treatments from older kids, even learning bad words this way.
So its really needs thorough investigation I think.
My boy went through that stage too– as in all of a sudden ayaw na nya magtoddler class when before he was so excited to go. What I did was to pull him out for one month. After his break, he was good to go na ulit. I thought that wala pa naman mawawala kung mag-skip muna siya; better that than having negative associations with the idea of schooling. 🙂
Thanks for the advice Mommy Chrystal. I’ll try to accompany her first at school, I hope this works. 🙂
2 hours din Myra. I guess there were different instances that led her to refuse to go to school.
Didi, oo nga eh, 2 days din nag-last yung pasa. Yung ibang classmates kasi malalaki na, one of the youngest si Gwen. I agree that they should be really vigilant so accidents won’t happen, kung pwede lang nga na we can look out for our children inside the class no?
Nagfi-feeling lang din ako at nagpapaka-stage mom kaya gusto ko sya ilevel up, hahaha
Oh no! This is such a heartbreaking news. I hope Gwen will get over it soon. I agree that you should accompany her to school, baka mas magiging confident sya if ikaw ang kasama nya. On the other hand, inggit ako sayo that Gwen speaks fluently na. Bulol na bulol pa ang junakis ko. Most of the time, siya lang nakakaintindi ng sinasabi nya 🙁 haha
Ah maybe she doesn’t want to go to school pa baka nabobore ng madali sa mga routine activities maybe she needs variation. Teacher is also right she needs to miss school and probly na trauma dun sa bully 🙁 she needs to feel secured sa school next time she wants to go back na
How old is Gwen? When Justin first entered school, he was three years old, so he was placed in the Nursery class. He had summer class before that, but I was always there, inside the classroom with him, during his summer class and the first week of his Nursery class because he would always cry. It took so long for him to get used to the school set-up without mom by his side, but he got over it, and now he’s really enjoying school. I hope what Gwen is going through is just temporary.
Oh my. I worked as a preschool teacher for months lang. I think one reason why she doesn’t want to go na was because of what caused the bruise and boredom. Prechoolers have short attention span that they get bored easily. I think you need to give her a break and make her miss the school.