It's that time of year again! Schools are opening and the school season with the ongoing pandemic begins, creating anxiety, stress and joy for young and old alike.

For many of our little ones this year will be their first year at school, marking a very important time in their lives.

The first time at school is a difficult experience for both parents and children. The fear of the unknown, the separation from parents, the new situation, the knowledge that they will have to work and tire to fit into a new group.

All of these are practical and emotional difficulties for the child, and essentially begin his "transition" from home to school. And while every beginning has its downsides, each child's adjustment time to school is different: from a few hours to weeks.

Another also quite difficult test for the child is when he or she needs to change schools. Although the reasons for this change are obvious and normal to parents, for the child such a change is a blow and shakes him or her, even if only for a short period of time. At an age when personality and patience are almost underdeveloped, the parents' help in accepting this new reality is of great importance.

There are of course many ways and tactics that we can use to help our little ones.

• First, we fight our own fears and separation anxiety. All parents worry about how our child will do and then whether those worries are really about the child and not about our own experiences, our own parents, our own problems at school. So we eliminate the anxiety, everything will be fine.
• It is important that our attitude to the child's reactions during adjustment is firm and decisive. We don't need to be overprotective.
• Make a few familiarization visits to the school with the child before he/she starts to familiarize him/her with the place and get to know his/her teacher.
• We treat the start of school with enthusiasm and go together to choose school supplies. We decorate his office space with cheerful colors.
• We accompany the child on the first day of school to give him courage and make him feel comfortable. We introduce him to other children starting at the same school, so that he has at least a few familiar faces in the classroom during the first few days.
• We show our resilience to the reactions of the first few days. We encourage the child to talk openly about his fears and plan ways of coping with him. We remind him of situations he was afraid of before and has managed to overcome them.

And finally, we do not forget the most important thing: school is the child's business and our goal is to help him or her develop autonomy!