The children return to school these days, with all that this entails. After a well-deserved vacation, the school world re-enters our lives and that of our children, with their good and bad things, those we like and those we dislike ... For the first time, a whole new world to discover.
The return to school brings us the same controversies that we left behind last year (and maybe some new ones): too heavy backpacks, abusive duties, absorbent extracurriculars, WhatsApp groups we would like to run from ... If we could ask nine wishes with the return to school, what do some parents ask?
Less books; they carry too many
We have already bought the textbooks and our children go with the backpacks loaded with tons of knowledge behind them. Is so much book really necessary to learn? Some books finish the course practically new, unused. Books that, on the other hand, have not been able to inherit from brothers or acquaintances, and we have had to spend a fortune on buying new ones, or second hand in the best cases.
Schools without books show that it is possible to learn without the need for lessons printed in traditional books. There are a variety of tools and teaching materials, prepared by teachers or by the students themselves, on which to base or complement learning.
For the love of the parents' pocket and the creativity of the little ones, can we reduce the number of textbooks, please?Lighten the weight of the backpack
Following the ton of textbooks they are asked for, then the problem stems from the cargo that children have to carry behind them, which ends up hurting their developing columns.
His backpacks weigh too much some (or all) days. They easily exceed five kilos, when it is recommended that the weight of the backpack does not exceed 15 percent of the weight of the child. We must find solutions for books and notebooks to travel less in our children's backpacks.
Please, can you find a way to avoid the daily loading of books that come and go?Less homework (or better none)
Depending on the style of education we have chosen for our children, the amount and type of homework varies considerably, but most schools in Spain give too much homework. It is not that I say it (that I have suffered it and that is why I have changed my school daughters), but that the WHO says it. The organization considers that Spanish children are among the most pressured by homework, occupying the top positions in the ranking of countries with the highest percentage of children affected by excessive duties.
There are many ways to learn without having to do homework mechanically for hours. After a 6-8 hour school day, children need to have time for recreation and leisure, time to share with their parents, to read or play. If it does not reach the time they spend in school, it is that something is failing in the education system.
Please, let our children enjoy free time to play after school and on weekends.More moderate WhatsApp groups
With the return to school, peace is over in WhatsApp groups. The notifications of messages from mothers and fathers about the organization of the school, classes, birthdays, books begin to sound ... Topics are there for all tastes, both school and matters that have nothing to do with the school: job offers, queries about the granites that have come out to the little one, the dress for a wedding, etc.
For some parents, the WhatsApp group is the best thing that could have happened to them, for others, the worst thing that has happened in schools. And who are in between (I would be among the seconds, but I recognize that it solves a lot), for the mental health of parents that we are part not of one, but of multiple groups (six last year), we ask that this course the conversations are more moderate.
Y a note: dear mothers and fathers, it is not necessary that when someone asks if you have found the shoe that your child lost, the thirty remaining parents of the group respond "I don't, I'm sorry. Surely it appears soon.". Reach with answer who has found it.
Please, I don't want to find 200 WhatsApp messages every day on my mobile.Extracurriculars who do not enslave us
In addition to spending the day at school, at the end of the day most children are enrolled in some extracurricular activity (dancing, skating, theater, rhythmic gymnastics, football, judo, chess, tennis and a very long list of activities to choose from) .
After deciding what your children are going to do and aiming at them, you have to take them six days a week to the (or) chosen activities. We occupy all your afternoons and ours, plus some (or all) weekends. Our life begins to revolve around the activities of our children relegating our social life practically nowhere, as if there was no life beyond extracurricular
Extracurricular activities are very good, but please, parents also want to have social life.That the child's rhythms are respected
Since we were suggested to hurry so that my oldest daughter left the diaper with three years (which we did not do until she was prepared) because the "older" school started I always had the feeling that the development and learning rhythms of children tend to accelerate. In education, going faster does not mean going further.
It seems that a speed race is running in which the only thing that matters is to accumulate content that most children do not even have time to process. It is not necessary for children to learn to read with four years if they still do not have the maturity to do so. You will learn when you are ready.
Please, let the children learn calmly, without haste, respecting their own learning rhythms.More friendly adaptation periods
The beginning of the course is very hard for children, especially when it comes to babies and young children who start kindergarten or school for the first time.
Keep in mind that they have never taken off from dad or mom and suddenly find themselves in a place they do not know, with teachers and children who do not know anything. It is normal for the child to feel disoriented and cry while the parents leave him with a heavy heart. Over adaptation periods are usually very precarious and little empathic with the needs of the little ones.
The lack of parental reconciliation does not help at all. If we could spend more time with them, the change would be more bearable, so we ask:
Please companies and entrepreneurs, we would like to have more time to be able to accompany our children in their periods of adaptation as they deserve.More egalitarian uniforms
Most schools that wear a uniform impose skirt for girls and pants for boys. My daughters and many girls do not like to wear a skirt (it is uncomfortable, it is cold, they see everything) and just as companies do not impose sexist codes on the clothing of their employees (we would scream in the sky!), Why do schools keep doing it?
A British school has taken the step by establishing a gender neutral uniform for boys and girls, an example that all schools should follow, allowing children to choose how they want to dress.
Please let children choose how they want to dress, without imposing sexist stereotypes.
Quieter mornings
Finally, with the return to school the infernal mornings of rush and bad moods return. In some houses, preparing to go to school and work is an obstacle course that turns the beginning of the day into a time to forget.
If we start the day happy, with time and well breakfast, it will become more bearable the rest of the day for the whole family.
Please, let's start every day with a smile.
)
