What to Do if Your Child Hates School

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If your child often complains that they dislike school and is reluctant to go in the mornings, you are probably feeling quite concerned. Unless they enjoy the learning experience on some level, it’s unlikely that they will succeed. It might just be that they that they are craving independence and trying to rebel, or it might be because there are some deeper issues at play. I have teamed up with a prep school in Middlesex to explore what you can do if your child seems to hate school.

First of all, consider your own attitude towards school – could you be contributing to the problem? If you talk about your own experiences of school in a negative light you might be influencing their opinions of their experience. Are you putting a lot of pressure on your child to perform well or nagging them constantly about their schoolwork? If so, this might be contributing to their negative associations with school.

Try and get to the bottom of why your child dislikes school by chatting to them one-to-one and asking plenty of open-ended questions. Give them your full attention and try not to be judgemental when they start to open up. Instead, try to empathise with them and let them know that you are there to help and to talk to whenever they need you. Perhaps there’s a friendship/bullying issue that you will be able to resolve, maybe they’re struggling with a particular subject, or perhaps they don’t like one or some of their teachers. Once you know what they problem is, you’ll be in a better position to solve it.

If you can’t seem to get much information out of your child, go directly to their teachers to let them know the issue, and see if they can shed any light on it. Even if they’re not sure why your child doesn’t enjoy school, they will at least be able to keep an eye on them and try to get to the bottom of it.