Coping Primary School Life For Both Parent & Child

As a first-time mother whose 1st child is going to Primary school is actually pretty exciting for me too. Thinking how can should cope with school work and social life.

Share the joy with your friends!

It’s the month of panic for parents who will be registering their kids for Primary 1, and this is me, slipping a cup of coffee and reading a notification message saying that my number 2 has successfully got into her Primary school under Phase 1 (siblings).

有点幸灾乐祸

Haha.. Anyway, I’m past the stage of panic mode, even though I’m only registering them for a normal neighborhood school. So, I can definitely understand how you guys feeling right now.

I’m not going to give any registration advice since this is not going to be the topic. There are actually a lot of advice and guides on registering for Primary school which I believe you guys should know by now. For those who are not sure or reading in advance to get yourself prepared, you can find the information through KiasuParents, MOE Website, and Elite Registration Phase.

While the parents are stressed over the registration phase, hoping their child can go to the desired school, how about the kids? The majority of them are clueless and they just want to make sure they can go to the same school with their current kindergarten BFF.

I remember telling Yi He, you will be going to Primary School soon. She was pretty excited, asking will she be in the same school as her friends, and when she have a new school bag. Will she be getting new stationery? All the requests started to come in. Hello! I don’t print money okay? And to think that this is a small case, the worst has yet to come.
I’m glad that there is not much negativity and she’s quite positive about it.

Primary school classroom
Primary School briefing in classroom

Getting used to Primary School life.

Primary school life is basically a whole new world, it; ‘s a classroom setting, buying your own food, more discipline, more homework, and tests.

As a first-time mother whose 1st child is going to Primary school, it’s actually pretty exciting for me too. Thinking how she or even myself can cope with school work, and her social life, will she be getting bullied? etc etc.. I am not overthinking too much, but soon you will realize kids adapt much faster than adults.

Home Work

I’m pretty glad that the current school she’s is focused on allowing the kids to get used to the school life and routine so no homework or tests were actually given in P1. So it was like a honeymoon.

Once the honeymoon is over…
Me to Yi He: My request is very simple, so long as you pass your test and don’t let your Teacher call me.
(Very stressful leh.. Like I’m the one who never finishes my homework. -.-)

Actually, when comes to school work and tests, I’m pretty a chillax mum, definitely not a tiger mum. But slowly as they advance to another level, you will be thinking about whether to join the rat race or forced into the rat race or maybe you are already in the rat race.

So this part of adaptation actually depends on the individual family and how “well” you actually prepare your kids academically.

One thing is for sure, I cannot understand why are we having English spelling and Chinese “ting xie” every week. I don’t remember having spelling and “ting xie” every week during primary school.

As they progress to Primary 2 and 3, slowly, they will start bringing in homework. That is where we parents have to be involved, sit beside them, and supervise their work. At the end of the day, you will start to question yourself, how did you freaking pass your Primary school exam.

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Pocket Money

The root of all evils… even the kids cannot escape this reality, especially when the cute little stuff in the school bookshop literally “screams” at their face “Buy me! Buy Me!” We should be glad that Smiggle does not sell its products in Primary schools.

For the 1st day of school, I gave Yi He pocket money instead of packing bento so she could go and buy food with her buddy (a school buddy system for kids to adapt to the school environment). This also helps her to familiarize the school canteen, and enjoy the excitement with her peers on the 1st day of school.

After her 1st day, I started to pack bento for her and I gave her $1 in pocket money in case she didn’t feel full or she needed to buy some stationery urgently. End up she always comes back home with cute little stationary or buys packet drinks every day! Noooo…

So we explained to her and stopped her pocket money. We only gave her allowance when I did not prepare any bento for her. At the same time, we also started to emphasize the importance and value of money, and how she should spend wisely.

When she reached Primary school, we started to give her an allowance so she could learn how to manage her money well. I’m glad she improved, otherwise, I want to send her out to work. Hello, money does not drop from the sky.

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Friendship

This moment: I don’t want to friend you. Next moment: We are bff.. *roll my eyes*

Ok lah, we have all been through this stage, and to think back, my mother should be rolling her eyes too at that point in time too. The worst thing now is my girl wants me to handle her BFF issues. What??

So I started my Auntie Agony “counseling”. I told her it’s hard for me to agree based on what you said or just agree with you because you are my daughter. I believe that since both of you really treat each other as BFF, no matter who is right or wrong, if you treasure the relationship, just initiate to speak up and clear up the air.

She dragged the issue here and there, pestering me to speak to her friend. I asked her not to disturb her form teacher for such a minor thing but ended up, she did.

Anyway, both of them managed to talk it out, apologize, and move on. This is not their first and obviously not their last “quarrel”. So be prepared. I also realized the Teacher has been handling their BFF problems quite a few times! A teacher’s job is not easy. *sweat*

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Bullies

Bullying comes in many forms, physical or verbal. As a parent, we simply cannot ignore any type of bully. Spend time talking to your child, observe their behavior or body language when you pick them up from school or when they share with you about their school life.

Yi He was pretty much alright until she started her medication due to her condition – Scleroderma. So her size increased, and she became chubby and emotionally sensitive.

The change in size makes her uncomfortable, some of the boys will laugh at her size. We talked about it, explaining what caused her to change. Showing her successful people like “Fat Amy”, since we watched many of her shows. How confident and funny she really was.

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I’m just glad that the “bully” wasn’t too much, technically I wouldn’t say it’s a bully but more like teasing. But as parents, we shouldn’t be magnifying it, or ignore it, we should address the issues before the child starts to develop negative thoughts.

I’m glad Yi He eventually did overcome it, she even talked about her condition and showed her chubby photo in the class during Show and Tell.

When the bully issue got out of hand, I talked to the teacher and discussed how we should help and the teacher also arranged the bullies to apologise to her. The teacher and me also constantly watch out for Yi He emotions and behavior to ensure the bully accident will not happen again.

via GIPHY

Conclusion

Actually school life can be so much fun, although it gives parents some form of stress (like their academic), it’s actually the first step that our child learns that the world is unfair, they will fall but eventually, they will pick up themselves and grow.

We shouldn’t be preventing them from falling down, instead, we should assist them in overcoming the obstacles. It’s not an easy journey but we just have to do our best and make it count these first 6 years. The foundation is very important. Before you know it, your status will change when you reach Secondary school, and their friends will be forever first.

For now, let’s enjoy their first steps to growing up.

*I’m not a tiger mum and quite a pretty chillax one, so the above suggestion and opinions are based on my experience. 🙂 Hope it helps and feel free to share your thoughts too!

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