Childhood to Adolescent: Stresses Due to Adjustments at Different Age Levels

The child does not only experience the teacher as the assessor of his work. The teacher is also the only adult in the classroom and troublesome behavior can easily arise because of the need for each child to share this one caring adult with so many other children. Again it is important for each child's future life to come to terms with this situation, but if a child has intensive needs for encouragement by an adult he will show his resentment by what is generally called 'attention-seeking' behavior. This takes numerous forms. Sometimes a child gains the teacher's attention by quarrelling with another child, sometimes he calls out, sometimes he comes up to the teacher to ask whether he can he of help when the teacher is preoccupied with something else. This kind of behavior can be extremely irritating, particularly when the child in question cannot gain the teacher's attention by good work.

Stresses of adjustment in school vary, of course, with the age of the child. Stresses caused through the need to leave the family, for instance, will be felt generally by the very young child but will rarely be a problem for an adolescent. Similarly, the adolescent will experience adjustment problems of considerable dimensions that have not appeared before the pupil enters this period of development.

Adolescents are often very preoccupied with their feelings and their behavior is very often erratic. At one time they want to be looked after like very young children, at other times they oppose whatever those in authority say. This in itself is part of natural development, a way of feeling oneself from the dependence on adults and of gaining the autonomy necessary for adult life. Naturally, adults find this fluctuation between dependence and rebellion very difficult to tolerate. The teacher who is able to accept this behavior can therefore make a tremendous contribution towards the development of young people. Nobody, however, should be under the illusion that this is an easy task.

These are, of course, only a few of the stresses that that classroom situation exerts on the children we teach. Every one of these children experiences this situation on his own individual way, according to his own individual experiences in the past. All institutions demand adaptation from the individual. Schools are no exception. Yet, if we want to help those of our children who worry us by their troublesome behavior. It seems advisable to examine to what extent the school situation ion general and the classroom situation in particularly may contribute towards that behavior. The understanding alone will be helpful. A change in the situation may often be advisable. Sometimes it is the most effective way of helping the child.