How Safe Are Your Children In School?

Children are left in the hands of people we call teachers and guardians but the way they are treated and guided matters a lot to their sense of feeling and security. Most often times we find ourselves in trying circumstances that lead us to question the security of our children. Children can go through bullying, punishment and fights in school and this has led me to question whether all these negative circumstances have no contribution to their insecurity because they do.

Things That Can Take Away The Security of Children in School.

1. Severe punishments with no clear explanation to the child or student.

Sometimes teachers and those in authority forget that young people are people too. In most cases they realize this when it’s too late, when the student has lost his or her self-esteem and have decided to even quit the school. This happens a lot in rural areas which lack motivation for education and thus leading to high levels of school drop outs and these have a general static of escaping school for certain reasons that include mistreatment and lack of quality facilitation.

2. Absence of security measures

The schools we take our children to lack security in the playgrounds and compounds which has led to kidnaps abductions and killings of young innocent lives:-) . you ask how was my child kidnapped? Am I a bad parent or is the school bad? They target school with no police checkups and caring staff you may say.

3. Neglect of children

The next time something bad happens to your kid in school you may have to sit back and think about your contribution and you will realize that as a parent you sometimes act with neglect. You don’t pay enough attention to your kids. For example you don’t even know what they are carrying in their bags. What toys perhaps they have recently acquired to play with or torment others with. Some harmful objects may include knives, razor blades, scissors, sewing needles, or even guns. A good example of school gun violence is from an American school shooting below.

A high school student was injured in a campus shooting near Los Angeles on Friday morning after a dispute with a classmate turned violent, the Los Angeles Times reports. Police detained the 14-year-old suspect, who has not been identified, in a nearby parking lot shortly after the incident.

The shooting at Highland High School in Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles, unfolded just after 7 a.m., before classes had begun. The 14-year-old victim, who was shot in the arm, was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities say the rifle used in the shooting was recovered off campus.

4. Discrimination, segregation, and hostility of those in authority to the students and children

If you notice that a certain institution where your child is studying has someone who shows discrimination tendencies, be aware that these tendencies are getting to your child as well and in a probably more harmful way that torments and anguishes your child in a more personal way that they won’t tell you. Save yourself and your child and take them far away from such people because they are taking way the security of your children. You don’t want your kid growing up knowing that because for example he/she is an Acholi from northern Uganda, he/she is inferior to the more privileged Mukiga or Muyankole. You ask yourself, when will this country ever develop and rise above such boundaries and chains that are transferred to our younger generation?

Signs Your Child Has No Security At School

What are government institutions doing to make sure students and children are more secure in school? It’s alarming when you realize that these institutions contribute to the insecurity instead of doing their job that you paid them for. On top of paying them fees of the child, you will expect that your child will be safe as well. When institutions take to neglecting students, you wonder whose duty it will be then and you remember yourself as a teenager in school. All the alcohol and drugs you got involved in somehow, and you rise from it but you don’t want your children to go through the same thing. How will you protect them from this? Here are the signs that your child is not secure:

1. They hate school.

You are outraged by your child hating to go to school but you really don’t know why and you may be tempted to spank and scold them to no avail. It’s distressing because you want your children to grow up to be successful. Get to the bottom of the matter and you will be surprised. Try to find out why your child hates school and why students continually drop out into the ‘school dropout’ club.

2. They are anxious and desperate not to be separated from their parents.

You really need to get worried if your kids cling to you a lot because you are mistaking it for fondness but it’s not healthy because healthy kids should skip off happily when you drop them off at school in the compound. You should see them wave you off happily and also wait for you eagerly at the end of the day.

3. They have a low self-esteem.

They don’t participate in school activities voluntarily. They won’t socialize with their fellow peers a lot and they will not show any talent like all the other kids around because they lost their esteem somehow. It’s a sign of more unspoken issues with your kid because they are not expressing themselves in the innocent loving way that you care for them. So get to the bottom of it all and rescue your children. Bring back their security and smile on their faces. Let them become the lead actress in a school play or signup for the football club. Don’t let it pass because something is making them feel insecure.

4. Withdrawal from family and friends.

Moving, divorce, a new sibling, or bullying at school can cause a child to feel left out or scared. Offer plenty of positive attention and maintain familiar routines to provide comfort. Speak to your child’s teacher if you suspect she is having trouble with friends at school. They are not feeling secure at all.

5. Eating or sleeping disorders.

When a child is under pressure, restlessness and worry interrupts sleeping habits. A sudden change in eating habits, whether eating less or more, is another sign of stress. Getting to the root of his anxiety (often with help from a child psychologist or counselor) can alleviate these behaviors. If the child is a teenager, they could be undergoing peer pressure with their weight. They feel confused and fearful of what others think of them.

Ethan’s story:

I once watched my little nephew complain about school and his mother who adored him more than words can describe paid attention to what he was saying. So she became a best friend instead of a mother to try to understand what he was feeling. We all discovered he had not eaten his doughnut which I had given to him to eat at break time. He said that the teacher hadn’t given him his doughnut which we did not believe. Several times he cried when he was left at the school and finally the mother changed his school some time later. However this little child is not the kind who cries when left at school. In fact he is the kid who cries when it’s raining and he is not taken to School. He realizes the value of school and being with his young peers and you can tell he is not afraid of anything at all.

My conclusion was it could have not been the doughnut that brought out his dislike for school but something more that we all shall never really understand.

Watch the video of a young boy being bullied

https://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/drillbit-taylor