Question

Families in transition are often dealing with difficult (and unexpected) circumstances. Consider your childhood or some of your friends’ early childhood histories. Are there any transitions that stand out as particularly stressful for you (or your friends)? Briefly describe the transition and what you think an educator could have done to help.

Answer 1

A particularly difficult transition I had to deal with was when my parents were in the middle of a messy divorce, and my mother spontaneously decided to leave my father to live with her parents. As a result, my sister and I had to move cities and shift to a new school, right in the middle of the year. Being the “new girl” in class, I took a lot of time to adjust and feel comfortable with my classmates and teachers. Since I was undergoing a lot of emotional stress at that point, I struggled with my assignments and subsequently my grades showed a decline.

Perhaps, as an educator, I could have taken some time to introduce myself to the new girl, and conduct some classroom ice breaking sessions for her to be able to integrate with her classmates. If I noticed that she was performing poorly in her assignments, I could have intervened there and then by investigating her past performances and notice the decline. This would have given me an opportunity to talk to her about the reasons why this was occurring and I could have them referred her to the school counsellor.