Parents often have a difficult time knowing how to handle their children’s negative feelings toward a new teacher, especially if their child is showing reluctance in engaging with the teacher and classmates. While it may be frustrating to see your child struggle, it’s important to not overreact when your child doesn’t like their teacher.
It’s important to consider that it could just be a sign that your child needs more time adapting to the change of class/teacher or it could even mean that they are struggling with acceptance. Along with this, you should take note that some children may just react negatively to new people and teachers because there’s no telling what caused the negative feeling. It could be something really simple and small. So if your child doesn’t like their teacher, here are 8 things you can do to help the storm blow over.
Don’t Be Pushy
It’s not uncommon for parents to feel the need to be “pushy” with their child and get them to like their teacher. However, this could be seen as a bad habit and create more issues in the future. It’s important to realize that your child is experiencing a new and strange situation that could be confusing and overwhelming for them. They’re also only young once and will experience this change many more times throughout their lives. It’s not a good idea to force your child to like their teacher. Sometimes a laissez-faire approach can be best. If you don’t make a big deal of it, you may be surprised to find they come to like their teacher in the end – something I have experienced firsthand myself!
Find Common Ground
Before you begin to try to convince your child that they should like their teacher, try to find common ground with them. This could be as simple as finding an activity that they both like or have in common which may make your child warm to them. So this could be a sport they both like, a love for science or reading. Whatever the lowest common denominator you can find. By finding common ground, you’ll be showing your child that their teacher is no as unrelatable as they think, and that they may even have something in common.
Talk About Your Child’s Feelings
When your child is showing reluctance in engaging with their teacher, try to talk with them about their feelings. The quickest way to get your child to like someone is to understand their feelings. If your child doesn’t like their teacher, try to talk with them about their feelings. The quickest way to get your child to like someone is to understand their feelings. While it’s important to not overreact when your child shows a dislike of a new teacher, it’s also important to let them feel heard. You can do this by giving them a listening ear while trying to stay as neutral in your response as possible.
Make Things Fun For School
If your child doesn’t like their teacher, try to focus on the thing they DO like about school. After you have heard them out, try to steer them onto positive things about their day so they don’t get caught up in a negativity spiral. Try to find other ways of creating positive forms of association with the school environment like inviting their besties over for a playdate after school. Think about ways you can encourage new connections with teachers and classmates. Encourage your child to join clubs or activities that they don’t participate in or other extracurricular activity that is related to their interests.
If Things Don’t Improve
While it’s also important not to be too pushy, you know your child best. If you see a huge shift in their attitude towards and enjoyment of school, have tried all of the above without improvement? Then it may be time to go in and talk to the Head Teacher. It is worth doing this as they may already have some issues they are dealing with concerning their teacher and your visit may help to connect the dots or shed some light on the situation. You may find the school is already aware of the issue having received previous complaints from other parents, and that the situation is already being managed internally.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why a child doesn’t like their teacher. While some of it could be due to your child being young and still immature in their ability to process their thoughts and feelings in a more sophisticated way, it could also be an indication that your child needs more time adjusting to the change. If your child is showing reluctance in engaging with their teacher, try not to be pushy or make them like the teacher. Often time is all that is needed. In the meantime, try to find common ground with them and talk about their feelings and find ways of creating positive associations with school to compensate for any negative emotions they may be feeling. T
