Index
From the first lessons and social gatherings in pre-school to college, parents need to be attentive and understand what their child’s difficulties are and how they can help. A child’s entire educational development must be closely monitored by the parents. It is clear that in each phase this care and attention will take on different proportions.
The attention that a mother gives to a child who cannot learn to read will be totally different from the attention to a child who is having problems in physics class. But when we talk about being aware of what happens in your child’s school life, we are not just talking about bad things, but positive surprises.
It often happens that a child develops faster than the others and the teacher asks the student to advance one year. But what are the consequences of advancing the child in school? Is this always positive? That is what we are going to discuss today.
What to Consider to Advance the Child at School?
We often think that advancing children in school is the best option because we take into account only one of the several factors that make up their school education. In this case, we are talking about the child’s cognitive ability .
It is a fact that some develop this type of capacity more quickly than others, which happens in several other aspects as well. But we must take into account other factors that involve the child’s education, such as his social development.
Often a child who leaves preschool and skips a year straight to the first year of elementary school is not used to or psychologically prepared for that type of routine, no matter how much he already knows how to write or do math.
In addition, the type of interaction with other children also occurs differently in this other environment, which may seem too mature for a child who is not yet prepared. These are some of the factors that parents need to take into account when thinking about advancing the child in school or not.
Strengths
It is clear that there are positive points in advancing the child in school and they must be highlighted and taken into account when the parents and professionals involved make this decision. Some of the main positive points are:
- Time – The child will have one year less in school, this means that they will graduate faster and have more time for further studies.
- School Development – Doctors, psychologists and pedagogues have a term called the zone of proximal development, which basically says that children develop with exchanges with others, both older and younger.
- Teaching – Often the child’s learning capacity is really adequate for a year ahead, so the past content will be perfect for him to have a good cognitive development.
Negative points
We cannot fail to mention the negative points of advancing the child at school. Some of the main ones are:
- Difficulties – Parents often believe that only cognitive ability makes the child prepared for all the content of the following year, which can prove to be wrong in many cases.
- Friendships – As we said before, social development is also extremely important at school. In many cases the child is used to hanging out with certain friends and, when away from them, it turns out to be less beneficial.
- Age – Although there is a zone of proximal development, often being the youngest in the class can bring some difficulties. And it is something that must be taken into account when advancing a child in school.
School and Teacher Opinion
In order for such a big decision to be made, parents cannot ignore the opinion of the teaching professionals of the school where their child studies, especially the teacher. She, who accompanies the student or student every day, will talk about the child’s development not only in the aspects of learning, but in living together and in all other types of abilities that a child develops at school, such as motor and mainly emotional capacities.
It is extremely important that the opinion of these professionals is taken into account so that parents make the right decision and do not end up hindering their child’s development.
Is it Worth Delaying Children at School?
In the same way that we talked about advancing the child in school, there is also the reverse movement , when parents think about the possibility of delaying the child in school even if he / she has passed the year in theory.
And also in the same way, this type of decision should be discussed calmly, taking into account all the factors that we have already mentioned here, in addition to the individual factors of the child that made the parents and the school think about this possibility.
Advancing the child in school is a decision that is not easy to make and who should not be made overnight. Everything involves the participation of parents and professionals who monitor the child’s daily life, their school development and also their cognitive and social capacities.
All of these factors need to be taken into account so that there are no traumas or negative effects on the child. Therefore, the best way out is always to think about what is best for your child and for his / her development, even if this is not what you had planned before.
See Also: School Adaptation – How to Deal with a New Routine?
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
