Tips for the First Days of School
Sending a child off to school is both exciting and frightening.
Cherylyn Feierabend
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Tips for the First Days of School
Hey there! You’re listening to the Mighty Mommy with some Quick and Dirty Tips for Practical Parenting. Today’s Topic: Starting School
Tips for The First Days of School
Sending a child off to school is both exciting and frightening for most parents. The anxiety we feel about our children going to school on their own could match, or possibly exceed, what they are actually feeling about the situation. Whe it’s time to send your child to school, whether preschool or elementary, for the first time, there are a few things you can do in advance to help make this change in routine easier for everyone.
If you are enrolling your child in a private school, you’ll most likely meet the teacher and see the classroom in advance. You’ll have an opportunity to research these schools and choose the one that best fits your child’s needs. During this research, you’ll be given a chance to observe the classroom, the teacher and how your child reacts in the environment. When you are sending your child to a public preschool or elementary classroom, the school will assign your child’s classroom. It is very important for you to take your child to meet the teacher and spend some time in the classroom prior to the first day of school. The school should offer a “meet the teacher” day. Plan to spend some time in the classroom with your child. You will want to see how your child responds to the environment and how the teacher interacts with the students. This is a good time to talk to the teacher about any concerns or questions you may have. Regardless of your child’s age, I think it’s important to go to this event at the beginning of each year. You and your child should meet your child’s teacher before school starts. Knowing that your child is in good hands will help lessen your anxiety. Meeting the teacher and visiting the classroom in advance will also help ease your child’s anxiety on the first day of school.
If you’ve listened to this show before, you know that I am a big fan of schedules. Children of all ages function better if they know what to expect. When a child’s schedule has a sudden change, it could cause behavioral issues. When your child is preparing for the new school schedule, try to get him into the routine before school starts. If you know that he’ll be going to school every morning at eight o’clock, start scheduling morning activities at the same time. If you do this for several days prior to the first day of school, the only change in the routine will be the activity itself. The less change your child has to experience at once, the more easily he will be able to adapt. Having a daily routine of this nature will also help you. It will give you a practice run for the big day. You will know what time you need to get everyone up, fed, dressed and out of the house in order to be on time. If your child will only be going to school for a few days of the week, you should still try to stick to the routine on the days off. Most of us are accustomed to changes on the weekend, but for the school week, it’s good to stay on track.
Your child may be apprehensive about starting school. If you’ve had him in day care previously, he might be able to adapt faster and not seem nervous at all. Either way, you will want to tell your child what to expect. Speak enthusiastically about the upcoming changes, but not so much as to make the child anxious. Recently, someone recommended introducing your child to another child who will be in his class. Let them get to know each other so they feel like they each have a buddy when they start attending school. Initially I thought this was a good idea, but suddenly I thought of my daughter and I know from experience how that can backfire. You know your child’s behavior so think about how he will perform in school with a playmate in close proximity. My daughter cannot resist the opportunity to play when a certain friend is around. I’d enrolled my daughter in some classes at a local recreational center with a fellow mom. Our daughters play together all the time and we thought they’d enjoy having these classes together. Unfortunately, the excitement of being there with each other overshadowed the class itself. We spent entirely too much time trying to focus them on the program. It would have made more sense to have a weekly play date instead. If playmates do not easily distract your child or if it would truly bolster his security to have a friend in the room then it may not be a bad idea to introduce him to a classmate in advance
My final tip for this show is to plan ahead, or at least the night before. Even if you’ve been practicing every day for the last two weeks, both you and your child might be excited about the first day of school. To simplify the morning routine, set out your clothes and your child’s clothes the night before. Choose play clothes for your child. He will be doing activities possibly involving paints, markers or clay. He will probably go outside for some portion of the class each day. Applying sunscreen to your child before sending him to school will help to protect him in the sun. Make sure your child is wearing close-toed shoes with rubber soles. Sneakers with socks are the best option for school. Avoid any hair clips or barrettes that can loosen over time. Your child should not be wearing any type of jewelry or clothing with loose drawstrings. Basically, you should dress your child in clothing safe for playground play. I always struggle with this because I want to send my adorable child to school in adorable clothes because then she can be twice as adorable. I’m a mom and I think that’s normal mom-type behavior, but I always set my daughter’s clothes out the night before so I’m not searching for the perfect, adorable, playground-friendly outfit at 6:30 in the morning when I’d much rather spend that time sneaking in a shower for myself.
That’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed listening. I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what special things you do before sending your children off to school.
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The Mighty Mommy’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Practical Parenting is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network at QuickAndDirtyTips.com. This week Grammar Girl is talking about units of measure so be sure to check out her podcast!
This is your friend the Mighty Mommy wishing you happy and fun parenting!
Music – “Golly Gee” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 2.0” creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
First Day of School image courtesy of Shutterstock