Recently my little one started preschool.
Now, I’m taking a wait and see sensibility, but already certain changes have begun to develop. In certain situations where she was ordinarily positive, her attitude is drifting negative. Where she would ask politely for something, she has become a little more aggressive in her demand. When moving around the house, she had long gotten past the overactive, jumping and running response, now she’s exhibiting that again. Where she would be almost immediately ready for play, academic or physical subjects at home, she now needs much more time to settle into focusing on starting. An interestingly new tone has entered her voice patterns--it has a bit of a whine to it.
Since the preschool situation is new to me, and I’m just starting to develop responses to my little one’s imitation of her classmates, I’m looking for some feedback on these questions.
- When the peer group’s influence is a regressive one, what is the benefit to our children?
- Have you noticed negative tendencies in your children when involved in a regular peer group situation?
- If so, what was your response--specifically, what did you do to redress the situation?
- If your child has been in a peer group situation for a long time, did you notice any absorption of negative or positive tendencies that are now a part of their personality?- Did you ever pull your child out of a peer group? - Since school peer groups are generally a random grouping of children at different stages of maturity, we can understand how that randomness might benefit less mature kids, but how does it benefit more mature children?
- What have some of the positive outcomes been of involving your child in a school peer group?
- Research has shown that in many ways the peer group’s influence is much greater then parental influence (especially because they spend so much time in the peer group as they get older)--has this information changed your thoughts about when, where and how you place your child into a school peer group?OK, I know I’m hitting you with a lot of questions, but your thoughts would really be of benefit to me as I’m beginning this process. Thank you all (smile).all content The New Parent © 2007