Acting-Out in First Grade What Can We Do?
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Acting out in first grade is not at all uncommon. By the time that a child is in first grade, he may or may not have spent that much time around his peers. Especially if he was not in a full-day kindergarten program, a first grade child may find that she is having to adjust to school in a whole new way. In some cases, these adjustments can lead to acting out. In other cases, a first grade child may be acting out because of family problems, or because of conflict with another child, or even because of academic difficulties.
Knowing exactly why a child is acting out in first grade is the first step in trying to figure out what exactly you can do to help her. If she is being teased by another first grade child, for example, you can help her to talk to her teacher about the teasing. If your first grade child tends to act out in the afternoons, it may be that she is just over stimulated by having a full day of school now, and that she may require quite a bit more time to adjust to the more aggressive academic schedule. If your first grade child is acting out because of family problems, such as going through a divorce, you may even consider some therapy for your first grade child, or perhaps even family therapy for both of you.
Actually, therapy can often be a benefit to a child who is acting out in first grade, regardless of the cause. Especially if your first grade child is acting out in violent ways, or in ways that go way beyond normal limits of behavior, you should consider some professional help. In other cases, where your child’s acting out is not as severe, you may be able to work something out with the child and with the child’s teacher, in terms of a system of rewards and sanctions to try to curb your first grade child’s acting out.
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