My son is starting middle school this fall (sigh…my babies are growing up). Unlike my very confident daughter our son totally lacks confidence and self esteem. I can tell that he’s already stressing over starting middle school. It’s a lot for him to adjust to… new school, new teachers, new classmates and a new schedule. One of his biggest fears aside from getting to class on time is his locker. This is the first year he’ll have a locker both for his books/coat and for his gym clothes. He is BEYOND stressing over how to use a locker what if he forgets the combination.
We picked up a lock for him to practice with but he’s still stressing over forgetting how to do it once he is actually faced with opening his lockers for the first time. We keep assuring him that what he is feeling is perfectly normal. Almost every child feels that way the first time they have to use lockers. My husband continues to have dreams that involve him unable to open his locker because he forgot the combination, and he graduated high school 23 years ago!
Has your child experienced this? Aside from getting them a lock to practice on what have you done to help them feel better about the whole lock/locker situation?
We got our son a Word Lock. Have you seen these locks? They are PERFECT for a child like our son who stresses over forgetting the combination or how to open the lock. The Word Lock uses actual WORDS as the combination. Even better your child can select their own word making it easy for them to never forget it.
The moment my son laid eyes on the Word Lock he was excited about it. It’s like suddenly a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He was so excited to try it out.
Our son loves it so much. He’s always practicing on it. The beauty of the Word Lock is that it’s VERY easy to use. All you need to do is spin around the letters to form your “word”. My son has changed his “word” at least four times already (LOL).
The Word Lock is a very nice size too. The metal “ring” part (for lack of a better word) is a very generous size and it can fit around other things aside from in a school locker. Our son has put the lock on our pantry doors and the cabinets. NOT FUNNY! Especially when I need something from the pantry and he won’t give me the combination (he thinks it’s funny to drive Mommy nuts!).
I truly believe that having the Word Lock has relieved our son of a lot of stress he was feeling about going into middle school and having to use a locker. You can tell from his whole attitude that he’s much happier about things now.
Even our daughter who MUST have the latest and greatest things LOVES the Word Lock. She said she saw a few kids in school with it last year and secretly wanted one too. She has her lock hidden so our son can’t find it. He knows how to change the “word” because he watched my husband do it so she’s afraid he’ll go and change her word on her. I hope not!
To learn more about Word Locks you can visit their official site at http://www.wordlock.com/. They offer other Word Locks and locks including really cool bike locks.
Word Locks can be found at K-Mart, True Value, Sears, Target, Ace and other retail locations.
For our family the Word Locks are truly a “must have” for back to school.