Why children struggle to return to school after summer holidays

With the ending of summer holidays comes one universal issue that a majority of parents face, the difficulty of getting children to settle into a school routine after long holidays. Due to the leisure, late hours, unlimited playtime, and lack of any form of pressure that accompany summer holidays, going back to school for children can be very challenging. Parents should understand why their children react this way before they can help them. Below are the possible reasons as to why children find it hard to go back to school at the beginning of summer.

Difficulty of changing routine

During the summer holidays, children will wake up later, stay up until midnight, and mostly just play throughout the day. However, when they have to join back to classes after holidays, they will have to wake up earlier, be on a tighter schedule than before and even have to do homework. Just like how it takes time for a person to adjust to working after having a holiday break, it also takes time for children to do so.

Loss of leisure time

Children experience a lot of freedom during their holiday periods because they can freely play anytime, choose what they would like to eat and do whatever they want. However, going back to school means that they will not enjoy their freedom but rather, will be forced to comply with the regulations. The thought of having to lose such freedom will make children feel restricted and thus reluctant to go back to school.

Return of academic pressure

During holidays, children are free from studies, exams, and homework. But once school starts, academic pressure returns, including assignments, tests, and expectations from teachers. This can feel stressful, especially for children who may have forgotten some concepts or feel unprepared. The fear of performance and catching up with studies can make them anxious and less motivated to return to school.

Disrupted sleep schedule

A disrupted sleep schedule is one of the most common causes of stress among children at the beginning of the school term. Sleeping late during the holiday period can easily disturb the child's sleep cycle. It might become very hard for the child to wake up earlier after having to stay up late during the holiday period.

Attachment to holidays

Summer holidays are always full of fun experiences for children, which include traveling and engaging in games. Thus, after experiencing all the fun, the child develops attachment to those happy memories. The feeling of going back to school and thus having to forget about all that fun can easily make the child sad and reluctant to join school.'