Chamber Business Connection Vol. 1, Issue 10 | Page 7

Helping Your Child Through School
With Dr. David Lowenstein
Dr. David Lowenstein is a Columbus psychologist who has
been practicing for 32 years. He specializes in individual, family
and group therapy with children, adolescents and adults. He
sat down to talk with us about the transitional phases in edu-
cation – beginning kindergarten or preschool and continuing
College.
Beginning with Pre-school and kindergarten, Dr. Lowenstein
related one of the most frequent problems he sees is separa-
tion anxiety – though that may be changing as more parents
work and use preschools.
“I think that, you know, the big thing is that a lot of these kids
who are going to kindergarten have already gone through the
separation thing because you see kids going to preschool more
often as nowadays many times both parents work.”
He explained that, for the majority of simple problems, parents should look to their child’s teacher for help.
“I think how parents best handle simple problems is to rely on the kindergarten teacher. The kindergarten teacher
has a lot more experience with kids who have difficulty adjusting than most parents ever will. Ask the teacher for
some help with that and I’m sure they’ll be able to.”
Ironically, he said the same the best for college-age
students. If the problem isn’t major, refer them to a school
advisor or have them ask a professor for help.
“If it seems overwhelming, it’s important to remember
they’re not the first kid who’s been overwhelmed going to
college,” he said. “We’re going to hear some emergency
3am phone calls saying “I don’t know how to do this, or
I don’t know how to do that… I know I’m relying on the
system a lot here, but schools and colleges have a lot more
experience with kids who have difficulty adjusting than any
family. “
“Rely on those services that are there for you. It’s not
always a good idea to go rescue our son or daughter in a
difficult time. If it’s not that serious have them look for –
and help them look for – other things that are going to help
them get through it. The colleges want you to graduate!”
Our interview lasted quite a while, delving deep into how
to prepare for kindergarten and college. For
full texts
on how to prepare for kindergarten,
highschool and college, click here.
CHAMBER BUSINESS CONNECTION
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