In my last blog I wrote about 5 things to consider when looking at elementary school counselling (http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=4194). This time I would like to look at what I consider 5 main issues that children deal with in elementary school. These issues (in no particular order) would be Bullying, Anxiety, Disruptive Behaviour, Friendships and Family problems. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but I have found them to be fairly predominant in all schools I have worked in.

We all know that bullying is a huge issue in public education and the early elementary years is often where it starts. We all know the reasons why kids bully but what we have to do is work with the child to help them understand positive and negative behaviours and how they affect others. Telling a child they are being a bully makes no sense as they often don’t see themselves in that manner. Instead, work on positive behaviours and showing respect.

Anxiety, whether diagnosed or not, has become one of the biggest issues in school today, leading to low self-esteem, depression and sometimes school refusal. If we can work with student early on and help to develop positive coping techniques for students and parents we may be able to help decrease the likelihood of anxiety becoming overwhelming for students, staff and parents. Allowing students to stay home or have parents pick them up can cause serious and negative effects such as avoidance and school refusal.

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