Betsy Brown Braun is a child development and behavior specialist, parent educator, and author of Just Tell Me What to Say and You’re Not the Boss of Me. She has graciously allowed me to share this terrific back-to-school blog post from her website (August 3, 2018). Smooth the Start to the New School Year 2018 Betsy Brown Braun Just thinking about the start of school can be stressful for kids. New teachers, new classrooms, new friends, new expectations, new routines. On top […]
Category Archives: School
When One Twin Is Held Back in School and How It Affects Their Emotional Well-Being
I’ll never forget being kept back in the fourth grade while my twin sister, Fay Louise, moved ahead. I’m sure it was the final proof I needed as a frail, indecisive child to convince me that I was inferior. For years, I believed I wasn’t as smart as my sister. I refused to give myself any credit for having been ill and kept back for that reason. I was “dumb” and I played that record over and over, a thousand […]
Big Fish, Small Pond Versus Small Fish, Big Pond
I was talking with a friend of mine struggling with a decision about kindergarten for her five-year-old identical twin daughters. Fortunately, the family was accepted into two excellent schools. The issue was the size of the school–one school had two kindergarten classes, and the other one had five. Separating the girls into their own classroom was not an issue because the family had beautifully prepared for this by separating the girls in their second year of preschool. Ultimately, the parents […]