Published on 12, July, 2020
I just revisited Jodie Smitten's excellent site and found this cluster of articles and info on school attendance - often an issue for parents and certainly an issue within my own family over at least 2 generations. Drilling down into the reasons can be quite emotional too. I was thinking at first that it might be more suitable for the Parents and Carers section but then, and especially after the school reports thread, I reconsidered. Reading through some of this, like thinking about my old school reports, set off quite a bit of reflection on my own schooling, much of which damaged or distorted me and influenced my behaviours for some considerable time. It's all still very much with me, in fact, like a voice in my head. I was always able to attend school myself, but I'm thinking now that the cost might have been too great. It also led to an awful lot of masking, some fairly negative behaviours and consequences for me, plus an almost neverending drive towards perfectionism and getting 10/10, no matter what I had to do to achieve it. :( And yes, although it can be a large "turning circle", I'm on to it now, with more insight, I think. :) If you feel OK to share here, how do you all feel about all of this? www.jodiesmitten.co.uk/school-attendance
During my final year of junior school, I began truanting because I just couldn't face the prospect of going to school. This continued until my headteacher was successful in contacting my parents. Whilst it was no secret that I didn't enjoy school, my parents found it impossible to grasp why. The only way I was able to describe it at that age was that I felt homesick.
At secondary school, there had been further instances of truanting... until my parents received a letter from the education authority about my prolonged period of absence from school.
Sporadic Sparkly said:The only way I was able to describe it at that age was that I felt homesick.
It can be very hard to explain, particularly when they are authority figures, you have minimal - no power within that system and those relationships, and on top of it all there's not even the language (on autism/neurodiversity) in place to enable you to describe it all in ways they'd understand! Avoidance can then become the best option.