BEIJING, March 1 -- Tummy aches and their heads really hurt are just some of the complaints parents hear, especially in the morning, just as they are hurrying their children through breakfast in the hectic rush to school.

    Most accept these "illnesses" from time to time and conspire to let their offspring take a day off occasionally. But many children suffer from chronic complaints like stomach aches and headaches.

    In those cases, parents need to consider whether the pain is a symptom of a physical illness or an expression of fear.

    "If a child has a physical complaint that clears up by midday, and the doctor cannot find anything, one needs to consider fear of school," says Professor Gerd Lehmkuhl, director of the Clinic for Paediatric and Youth Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Cologne.

    Experts have identified three forms of school fear. So-called school phobia is triggered by the fear of separation from one's parents.

    This is most common in young children, sometimes as early as nursery school, says Professor Franz Resch, medical director of the child and youth psychiatry division at the Heidelberg University Clinic.

    The separation anxiety can be sparked by tensions in a divorced family or by parental illness. Fear ties these children very closely to their parents.

    Resch believes the second kind of school fear to be a form of social anxiety. "The children are afraid they will make fools of themselves, that they will be taunted by other children and teachers or that they will expose themselves to ridicule." These kinds of fears often manifest themselves near the end of elementary school.

    The transition to the upper grades, which in Germany includes a choice between academically oriented or vocationally oriented schools, can also be stressful for elementary schoolers, says Detlef Trabert, president of the Humane Schools Initiative in Cologne, an organization devoted to reducing school stress and helping children in school.

    "The more pressure there is on the selection process, the more fear there is."

    Truants, the third group, are mostly pubescent boys. "Here, it's not usually a case of fear, but lack of interest in school," said Resch. But Lehmkuhl says people should consider that even these children might suffer from forms of school fear as well.

    "The biggest problem groups straddle multiple problem areas."

    Experts cannot say how many children might just sleep badly before a major project and how many actually suffer from school fear.

    "It depends on the definition," said Lehmkuhl. Experts assume that 5 to 8 per cent of German children have school-related fears and problems. That would mean about two per classroom.

    "But there has been an increase in existing tendencies," said Lehmkuhl. The pressure to perform has increased, as well as bullying among students.

    School psychologist Albert Zimmerman of Cologne's Centre for Student Advancement, Academic Advice and School Psychology agrees. "Bullying can lead to massive fear of school. Often parents and teachers only notice too late what is going on."

    Other forms of school fear also often go unnoticed for long periods of time. Resch, the medical director, says parents sometimes prefer to look for physical rather than psychological roots to their children's problems.

    Lehmkuhl, a psychiatrist, advises following up any physical complaints with a medical check-up, but that "invasive procedures like colonoscopies" should be avoided.

    Much more important than high-tech medicine is an open dialogue. "Often children will say, for example, that the teacher told them something like, 'I'll show you who's boss'."

    Under no circumstances should parents belittle their children's fears, urges Trabert, the education specialist. "Never tell them, 'That's not so bad'."

    If parents suspect that the fear is prompted by bullying, they should consult teachers and school administrators. "At that point, nothing should be held back. The school must react definitively, clearly and forcefully," said Zimmerman, the school psychologist.

    "Bullying will only stop when the consequences are so unpleasant for the bully, they outweigh the fun."

    When it comes to separation anxiety, parents often play a decisive role by unintentionally letting children know that it is better not to leave the house. But parents actually do their children a favour by encouraging them to be independent, says Lehmkuhl.

    "If I notice that my child is clingy, I should practise playing separation situations with the child until he reaches school age."

    As a rule, parents have to deal with the possibility that a frightened child is simply overwhelmed.

    "Performance anxiety is justified in many cases, often because the child is not in the right educational curriculum or because his educational deficits are too big," says school psychologist Zimmerman.

(Source: China Daily)