With the beginning of a new school year, it is often the parents, particularly those sending their children to school for the first time, who feel more anxious than the children themselves. The educational expert Lee Eun-kyung, who runs the YouTube channel 'Wise Elementary Life' and authored the book 'If I Were to Raise a Seven-Year-Old Again', shares insights for parents on the mindset they should adopt this new term. According to her, what is important for parents is not just accumulating information but understanding that each child's adjustment to school varies. The school environment should not be viewed as a perfect fitting space but rather as a place of trials and errors, where parents should adopt a stance of 'safe behind-the-scenes support' rather than overly intervening in their child's experiences.

As the focus on academic performance also heightens with the start of school, conversations among parents often quickly revolve around topics such as advanced learning, English proficiency, and math progress. Lee emphasizes that, for early elementary grades, it is crucial to prioritize observation over comparison, suggesting parents focus on tracking their child's development month to month and reflecting on their individual growth. For example, assessing whether a child is getting dressed more quickly or sharing more about their school day is a more constructive approach than comparing to peers.

Lee notes that in the first few years of elementary school, while academic content is straightforward, the demands shift significantly in later grades, moving from memorization to understanding and reasoning. The skills developed through reading comprehension become pivotal during this transition, as children learn to grasp meanings through continuous engagement with texts. Hence, fostering reading habits and healthy daily routines in early elementary years lays the foundation for their future academic success.