How Did They Grow up so Fast?

By Greg Tuck

Parents are their child's first teachers and their involvement in their child's education shouldn't, and indeed, doesn't stop as their child starts school. Enrolling their child for the first time at school or transferring their child to another school, parents can often find things very strange and daunting, perhaps even more so than their children do. This book is a guide for parents about what takes place inside the school gate. Topics that are discussed include: Being a Parent, Choosing the right school, Managing expectations, Children with disabilities, Home and school communication, discipline, The cost of education, Student learning, Homework, Reading, Mathematics, Religion in schools, Friendship groups, Reports and Parent /Teacher Interviews.
This book helps to give parents an understanding of what happens in schools and how they can continue to participate in their child's learning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Greg Tuck
• Release date: Jul 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005817022

Greg Tuck

I am a former primary teacher and principal, landscape designer and gardener and now a full time author living in Gippsland in the state of Victoria in Australia. Although I write mainly fictional novels, I regularly contribute to political blogs and have letters regularly published in local and Victorian newspapers. I write parodies of songs and am in the process of writing music for the large number of poems that I have written.

Book preview

Being a Parent

It is considered one of the hardest and most taxing jobs that there is and some call it payback for being a child and the way you behaved towards your own parents. From the beginning your child depends on you, relies on you being there and meeting his/her needs. However, from a very early age children are seeking their own independence and identity. The difficulty that most parents face is the timing and the amount of independence. Each child is different. Some need more protection than others. Some need encouragement to step out into the big wide world. Wrapping them up in cotton wool is not going to give them what they need to develop and extend their minds beyond the home. Wanting them to be clones of their parents is also dubious because they will have likes and dislikes different from yours. One of the most challenging aspects for most parents is to share the care of them with others, especially strangers. Child care, kindergarten and school can often cause more anxiety for the parent than the child, who will sense the fear and trepidation of their parents and possibly mimic it.

I want my child to be….. If the next words are happy, caring and safe, then you will be like most parents. Creating high expectations and possibly unreal ones, can be detrimental to a child. Foisting your own missed opportunities, hopes and dreams on them makes it difficult for a child to become who they want to and who they could be. Child care, kindergarten and school are opportunities for children to gain independence, to learn to fight their own battles and to find their place in the world. Unless there is a major safety issue, parents should take the time to stand back and watch their children grow, offering assistance when asked and guidance when required. Children will fall in and out of friendships and gradually acquire social skills that will allow them to mix with all sorts of different people, both child and adult.

Finding that balance between stepping in and standing back is extremely difficult. A complete hands-off approach gives the child no boundaries and thus takes away security. Constantly making decisions on a child’s behalf takes away their confidence and self-belief. Parents deal with such situations in extended family situations and children learn to adapt to the different rules that are applied in different households. In multicultural societies where perhaps the rules within a family structure may be vastly different, it is the children who seem to adapt to the settings the best. In a school situation, trust between teacher and parent is very important as is the definition of the roles. Within the classroom, the teacher is in charge. Outside of school, parents are in charge. By working closely together, there can be a very smooth transition for a child. The child knows who is boss and will test boundaries for both parent and teacher. That is one way that they gain