Difficult start in kindergarten?
Mona doesn't like change. It takes her a long time to get used to a new situation, including kindergarten. New things tend to put her off. Mona is no exception.
Starting kindergarten is a bigger challenge for some children than for others. Especially for children who usually react anxiously or cautiously to new things. In this context, we speak of behaviourally inhibited children. Behavioural inhibition is a temperamental trait and is therefore relatively stable over time. It is already visible in infancy and can still be present in later school and adolescence.
Behavioural inhibition is not a disease, but a characteristic of the child that has positive effects.
According to current research, around 15 to 20 percent of children of kindergarten age have behavioural inhibition. The term was coined by US psychologist Jerome Kagan and may play a role as a biological factor in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders.
Behavioural inhibition itself is not an illness, but a characteristic of the child that has positive effects. For example, it is not a disadvantage per se not to rush into new situations without first having observed and assessed them from a distance.
Cautious, easily stressed and often tense
Children with pronounced behavioural inhibition can have difficulty with changes in everyday life. They tend not only to deal with new situations cautiously, but also to regularly avoid new things. In social situations and in new situations in general, they appear shy and withdrawn.
Children with behavioural inhibition experience more tension and anxiety in new and unfamiliar situations than other children. Research has shown that children with behavioural inhibition react more physically and emotionally stressed in new situations. The increased physical and emotional tension is coupled with an increased alertness to potentially threatening aspects of the environment.
This means that children with behavioural inhibition are more cautious and more likely to expect danger than others. They react less spontaneously and sometimes appear depressed and inhibited. In kindergarten, this often manifests itself in play and in interactions with peers and teachers.
Because behaviourally inhibited children avoid new things, there are no positive experiences with the unknown - the fear of new things is not reduced. These children have fewer opportunities to practise and improve their social, emotional and language skills.
In kindergarten, children with behavioural inhibition often play alone and only participate hesitantly or when prompted in other children's play or conversations. As a result, they are less socially integrated at school age.
Rituals in kindergarten help
Behaviourally inhibited children need support. They need a safe environment that allows them to have positive experiences with new and unfamiliar things. In this way, children experience security step by step and develop their social and emotional competence and independence.
The rituals within the kindergarten help to reduce the increased physical tension and anxiety. The tendency to avoid new things is reduced and, step by step, the child ventures into further challenges with positive feelings and curiosity.
Is your child anxious and doesn't usually like new things?
Talk often about how you dealt with similar difficulties as a child. Imagine with your child what new things they will encounter in kindergarten and what positive things they will experience in this new situation. Remember that every experience allows the child to have a new experience and thus build up confidence and security step by step.
Discuss with your child that you have confidence in his or her ability and are very confident that he or she will be able to cope with the new situation and that you will think of your child when he or she is at kindergarten. Rejoice together with your child about the individual progress and increasing courage.
Did you know that the way parents deal with new things in everyday life serves as an important pattern for the child? A study from Australia has shown that training parents to overcome their own fears not only leads to a reduction in anxiety in the parents themselves, but also in children with behavioural inhibition. So if you as a parent speak up and let your child participate in how you deal with anxiety, you will both benefit!
