End-of-Year Blues
Posted on Mon, Jun 13, 2011
So this was the scene in my family room last week: I am handing out money to each of my kids so they can buy tickets for their upcoming school fair. My youngest (who is 6) suddenly bursts into tears, saying "I don't want to buy tickets! I don't want to go to the fair!" What? Is there anything not fun about a fair? Wouldn't all kids want to go? After telling him all of this (to no avail, of course), I finally sit him down on my lap and listen to what he's trying to tell me.
You see, he has no idea what this fair is--he's never been to it before. And it seems like every day at school lately, there's some special end-of-the-year something going on. And even though these are all "fun" things, it does completely disrupt the sense of routine that children (especially younger ones) thrive on. He has no idea what to expect in these last couple of weeks.
So we mapped out all the special events between now and the end of the school year. I included things like when his favorite babysitter is coming over, when we're doing special things after school, as well as the in-school special celebrations. And we described in as much detail as possible each of these events so he would know what to expect.
Since I'm not entirely sure about his preferred learning style yet (and because I wanted to cover all the bases), we talked about it, we looked at his calendar, and we marked the special events on it. This seems to be helping. Now every morning, I get the countdown from him of how many days are left in the school year, as well as the list of events for that day. He usually also feels the need to talk about upcoming events, too, to confirm that they're still happening on the days he thinks they are.
And on my end, I'm trying really hard not to add any additional disruptions to his schedule. He can't handle last-minute changes right now so I'm doing everything I can to avoid them. And while this isn't completely preventing all of his meltdowns, it does seem to be helping to keep him on an even keel. Just 8 more days to go!
-posted by Amy Shinohara, Owner of Hearts & Minds Music