M I D D L E S C H O O L

TRANSIT IONING YOUR CHILD TO

KATIE PENNINGTON

AS A HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WITHYOUNG KIDS , IT ’S A NICE CHANGE TO BEWITH A DIFFERENT AGE GROUP WHEN ICOME HOME FROM WORK. ALTHOUGHWHAT’S SHOCKING TO ME IS THAT MY

OLDEST SON IS GOING TO BE ENTERINGMIDDLE SCHOOL NEXT YEAR! IN THE BLINK

OF AN EYE, MY SON WILL SOON BE ATEENAGER, JUST L IKE THE K IDS WHO I

WORK ALONGSIDE WITH EVERY DAY.

YOU WOULD THINK THAT AS A HIGHSCHOOL PRINCIPAL, THIS TRANSIT ION

WOULD BE EASY FOR ME S INCE.BUT IT ’SACTUALLY FAR FROM THAT. SO I TURNED

TO GOOGLE FOR HELP TO COPE WITH THISCHANGE IN MY L IFE . THE T IPS I FOUND

WERE SO RELATABLE THAT I FELT L IKE ISHOULD WRITE ABOUT THIS ON MY BLOG

TO HELP OTHER PARENTS L IKE MEEXPERIENCING THIS SHOCK.

THEY MIGHT WANT TO GET INVOLVEDWITH EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVIT IES

Elementary schools often don’t have extra-curricular activitieslike the school baseball or softball teams. However, middleschools do and this is new territory for parents and kids.Usually your child would catch the bus home after school oryour would stay at an after-school program until you couldpick them up after work.

THEY MIGHT WANT TO GET INVOLVEDWITH EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVIT IES

But extracurricular activities may keep your child after schoollong after the busses have left for the day. Talk to your child tosee if they’re interested to participate in any activities. Chancesare they might, and that opens up a whole new topic:ownership of a cell phone to stay in contact with your kids.

CELL PHONES

These days it’s common for kids to have a cell phone at thisage. Did you know the average age for a child to get a cellphone is 10? And it’s with good reason. Some parents work late,kids stay after school for activities and some going to friend’shouses after school. With your child hopping from place toplace, parents still want to keep in contact with their kids.

CELL PHONES

Children’s cell phone ownership can be tricky, especially ifthey have a smartphone. It’s like they have access a world youcan’t see in their pocket! As a parent, make sure you talk toyour child about the proper use of a smartphone and useparental controls.

HELP THEM ADJUST

Some elementary schools structure their schedule to havestudents switch teachers and classrooms throughout the day tohelp them adjust to middle school. Others do not, and childrenare stationary in one room all day. Middle school will be asignificant change, as students hop from classroom toclassroom and they won’t get to know their teachers andpeers as well.

HELP THEM ADJUST

Your child will have to learn to self-regulate themselves to getto class. Talk to your child to see if they know where thelunchroom is, where the classrooms are, and how to effectivelystop at their locker to switch out materials before the next classbegins. Your child will also have to push themselves to makefriends, since it might not be as easy as it was in elementaryschool where almost everyone class was their friend. Reassureyour child that everyone his age will be new and everyone isgoing through the changes too.

K A T I E P E N N I N G T O N . N E T

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