OK, so it’s probably more scary for the parents sending their kids off for the first time than it is for the kids! My husband and I are preparing to send our 1st born, 5 year old Johnny to kindergarten in just a couple of weeks. We can never know exactly how our children will react when the moment comes, but we can do our best in preparing them.
Here are some tips we’re using –
Talk to them – Like about how fun and exciting its going to be with new friends, and learning new things! Always talk with a lot of enthusiasm so they feel how you’re feeling when the subject comes up.
Time away – They say its a good idea to prepare kids for being away from home and their parents by setting up times for them to be away from home; staying with a relative or at Grandma’s or something. We don’t have relatives nearby, but we do have both kids go to the daycare/pre-school twice a week as we work from home. They have adjusted there well, and look forward to it, so hopefully this will help Johnny do the same with school. This has also helped them learn how to interact with other children, to play, to share and participate.
Know the facts – Help them memorize the basics – name, address, phone number, body parts etc so they are confident when the teacher asks questions. Also use different opportunities to continually practice counting, colors and alphabet without them knowing like identifying letters on labels when shopping or putting away groceries, or counting cars when driving, or colors of cars and reading billboards. They may already know most of it, but just going over it really reassures them and gives them confidence.
Let them bring something from home – For my son it’s probably a super hero action figure or something he loves, but I think letting them take a little something from home with home gives them a little sense of security.
Here’s a picture of my son Johnny and I at his Pre-K graduation. Ok, deep breath – here we go – this is really gonna happen!! I’d love to hear any tips you have in preparing your kids for school, whether its their first year or not. Let me know!