So you are ready. You did your research, toured the preschools, noticed the activities for preschoolers, and selected the right one. Phew! But the tough part has not ended till yet. Your child is well settled in the day care but now again the trauma of settling in the new environment of a preschool or nursery is still to be gone through. But what if we tell you that this transition can be eased in simple four ways with no tears and less tension? Don’t believe us? Read up.
First, do the groundwork:
Mentally prepare your child. Start talking. Read books about preschool, children going to preschools, talk about his siblings or friends who go to school. Get the ball rolling. Present the idea in a no-big-deal way and do not over hype the event as that might cause anxiety in your child. Keep it subtle.
Second, do some activities for preschoolers at home:
Practice few skills like unbuttoning shirts, hanging T’s on a hook, pulling up pants, opening lunchbox, handling small and big objects and more. Enhance the fine motor skills so that they feel ready for preschool. Give him responsibilities like setting up the table, laundry, making bed and other daily chores. The preschool activities should feel easy to him and imagine the confidence boost he might feel if he is great at preschool activities from very first day?
Third, Prep them up:
At the orientation day, interact with other parents and arrange a play date before the first day of the preschool. If possible, ask the teacher to give a list of classmates and arrange a picnic or small party. Seeing familiar faces will bring a smile on your child’s face.
Go for shopping and let your child pick up a school bag, lunchbox and water bottle that he/she can easily open. Also, make him wear her backpack at home whenever he wants to. Put the lunchbox and bottle in and let them get all excited.
Encourage a habit of a ‘school night’ routine where the child picks out the clothes to wear next day and decide his breakfast. Talk to him that if he opens his lunchbox, what eating item he would want to see.
These steps will surely get them all geared up!
Forth, Dropping off:
The day has come. Talk in advance about the drop off process and don’t make a surprise for him. Be confident and strong in your goodbye – make it sweet and short so that your child knows that his mother is confident that her little one will be taken care of. DO NOT try to distract her and sneak off, that just creates mistrust.
Before going through all this, make sure your child is right preschool age so that he is ready to well perform the activities for preschoolers. Once you have dropped him, relax and remember, when you will pick your little preschooler from school, there’s a high chance that the little one will be proud of herself, obviously as much as you.
