How to Improve Your Child's Negative Attitude Toward School

Does your child hate school, and invent every excuse under the sun for taking a day off? Are you at your wit's end trying to figure out what to do about it? You, as his parent, are the key to changing his attitude into one that will have him viewing school as a comfortable substitute for home; a place he looks forward to spending his time.

Talk To Him About His Attitude Problem

Explain to him that school, like home, isn't going to be a barrel of fun every minute of the day, but that it should an overall good and worthwhile experience, and that if he is really miserable there, the two of you are going to have to figure out how to make things better for him. It is never too early to point out that getting a good education is going to affect how he lives for the rest of his life.

Talk about his goals. Give him examples of professions he might be unable to pursue without a good education. Make sure he knows that schools are not just a place your parents pack you off to every morning and pick you up from every night, but that school, in a sense, is a child's job. One that he should take pride in and enjoy.

Eliminate As Many Things As Possible That He Dislikes About School

Have your child list the things he doesn't like about school. His list may include things like, "I don't like my teacher's voice-she sounds screechy; Math is just too hard, and I will never learn how to do it; Jack sits pokes me with his pencil; we don't have enough time to do our work; the teacher hates me; the other kids hate me; I can't see the chalkboard; kids on the bus tease me; Jerry calls me big ears; school is boring; our classroom smells funny," etc. etc. etc.

Don't laugh at him or brush off any of the comments. To a child, every one of them may be seem to be a good reason to hate school. He needs to know that you are just as concerned with how his time at school is spent as you are with the time he spends with you at home.