One of the biggest milestones in your life as a parent is when your child goes to school or preschool for the first time. The reason it’s a big milestone for you as a parent is because for the first time in their life and in your life since parenting, you are letting go of their hand. You are allowing them to go ahead and go somewhere else for hours a day, and if you’ve never put your children into a childcare setting of any kind before, it’s a big deal.
Perhaps you’ve used childminders or babysitters or grandparents up until now, but preschool is an entirely different kettle of fish. If your little one is starting preschool for the first time, then you need to get them ready for that first day of preschool with enough time that they know what’s happening. Springing preschool on them is never going to be a good idea. You need to make sure that you are both prepared because you can guarantee that there will be some tears shed somewhere.
1. Spend some time talking about it. Before your child starts preschool, no matter how old they are. Start talking about it and injecting it into your everyday life. Make conversations about preschool and meeting new friends and teachers the new norm for you each day. You could find social stories on YouTube or on children’s TV to talk about them. The process of preschool and what it is. If you spend some time talking about it, you’re going to be able to prepare your child for the change that’s about to happen. You need to remember that as nerve racking as you find a day of preschool, they’re going to be in a foreign area with people they don’t know and a lot more noise around them which can be very overwhelming. Early preschool preparation is key to avoid any tears.
2. Go shopping. You are going to need to go shopping to buy new shoes and to buy preschool clothing. There’s every chance there’s no school uniform for preschool and your child can use their day clothes, but you don’t want to have to use all of the nice clothes they have in their closets to go to preschool with buying some cheaper T-shirts, some tracksuit bottoms and easy move clothing is a good idea. Unless your child is an expert at tying their shoelaces already, go with Velcro for shoes so that they can get their shoes on and off easily. And practice doing this in advance.
3. Start labeling everything. When you do your shopping haul for preschool, make sure that you get some labels while you’re there. Personalized labels or name stamps can really help, but the best tip you could need is label everything. If there are 20 children in your child’s preschool, then there are going to be 20 jumpers, 20 bags, 20 coats, and even 20 pairs of shoes. Every single thing your child wears or takes with them to preschool should have their name in it with their surname. The only thing you need to make sure that you do is not to put their name in big letters on the outside of their backpack or their lunch boxes where strangers can easily, identify them. Labels should be inside things so that teachers who are looking for clothing for pupils can open the tag and see their name.
4. Pack all of their meals separately. Usually at preschool there is a morning fruit break, a morning tea, and a lunch. In most classrooms these things are kept separately and your teachers at the school will help you to understand how it works. Packing everything into three separate bags or two separate bags is a great way to keep everything organized for your child so that they know what’s theirs and they are easily able to identify it. With that being said, you should also make sure to introduce them to opening and closing their own lunch boxes and packages before they go to preschool so that they feel confident in how to do things themselves.
5. Try not to ask for too many progress reports. Teachers in preschool are looking after multiple children and mornings can be very tricky. When you drop your child off at preschool and you wish them a lovely day, that should be it until the end of the day where you can ask for progress reports. There are always queues for the photocopier in the morning and busy teachers trying to set up their day, so the last thing you need to do is hinder their setup and stand around asking questions. Make an appointment to see your child’s teacher a few weeks into the term to see how things are going, but tell them that you are always available on the phone to discuss anything if something may be wrong.
6. Ask the preschool how birthdays are celebrated. Some schools allow children to bring in sweet treats or snacks for birthdays to hand out to their new friends. If your child has allergies, you need to be able to know in advance what kind of treats are usually allowed so that you can understand when your child can and cannot have one. It’s a good idea to make sure that you check for allergies in advance for other children, too, even if your child doesn’t have any. The last thing you want is to send in something delicious and find out that half the class can’t have it because of an allergy to wheat or egg.
7. Be nice to everybody from the office staff to the dinner ladies. Being nice to everybody is a great idea when you know that your child is in their hands. You might find that your child settles in very quickly, but sometimes the opposite is true when it comes to that first day. You need to make sure that your child is happy to go and skip into school. You may find them clinging to your leg, you may find them crying their eyes out, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t go to preschool. It’s always going to be tough to have a first day, and it’s going to be tough on you as much as it is for your kid.
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