There are only a few weeks left until the start of the school year. Your child is about to take his first steps at school: he who is still so small will integrate real life! For the first time he will exist as a fully-fledged individual among his peers, without the presence of his mother and/or father. A new stressful stage in his existence, which takes him a little further away from childhood, and which he will have to face alone, like an adult.
But how do you prepare him mentally? What advice do parenting specialists give to prepare your child for his first return to school?
According to a former teacher and early childhood specialist, “a key element to consider when returning to school is to strive to introduce as much of the unknown as possible.”
Parents.com
Here are some tips to keep your children away from the mystery of the school world.
Talk to your child about school well before school starts (to prepare them mentally)
The first thing to do to prepare your child for taking his first steps at nursery is simply to do it. talk to him about itThe goal is to allow him to do so.imagine what your new daily life will be like during the year and minimize the situation if he is scared and/or stressed. You can start broaching the subject two or three weeks before the start of the school year, but not before: at a young age, his prefrontal cortex is not developed enough to remember conversations that began many months before the event, or so that can project far enough into the future.
For example, you can mention the name of the school, its location, the name of the teacher, how a day unfolds, the presence of classmates of his age, the elements that are part of his future learning, etc. etc. Talk about it in a positive but not embellished way: we want to avoid disappointing and frustrating him if the reality does not resemble what we have described to him.
Read books about school to him to anchor/normalize the topic in his mind
You can also do this during the summer before the school year starts. read stories about schoolso as to anchor the theme in his mind and make him understand that other people have been there before him.
When possible, go and meet the school and the teacher
Usually, before the start of kindergarten, the institutions involved organize open days for the little ones and their parents. If you can, try to go with your child: the idea is that familiarize him with his future environment and ease his fears of the unknown. Also go meet his teacher if you know who he is. Thanks to this preschool visit, your child will not feel completely lost on the first day.
And if his school doesn’t organize an open day, you can simply go on a trip with him, admire the school from the outside, see what the courtyard looks like, etc.
Adopt a new morning routine and practice it before the first day of school
The beginning of the school year can be difficult to manage for all members of the family, not just for the small child: everyone, in fact, must learn to adjusting to the new morning routine that replaces the lighter “routine” of summer vacation. And the change is even more difficult to digest if the child is new to the world of school: the mornings before school can seem even more demanding for him than for others.
Parenting specialists therefore advise parents and children to practice your future morning routine long before it is actually necessary to apply it. During the holidays, take a few days to get up on time, wash and dress the child, prepare and eat breakfast and finally leave the house as if you were all going to school. This will help the whole family to anticipate how future school mornings will unfold and will allow the child to understand how it is organized.
To deepen this mental preparation, you can also “review the daily lesson schedule with your child (…) Let him know when it will be story time, when it will be nap time, when it will be play time and finally when he will return home.”*
Parents.com
Make special back-to-school purchases (when you have the financial means)
Bringing school supplies along with your child can help them mentally prepare for the upcoming school year. The fun and magical side of this shopping trip can bring a positive dimension to this stressful event and relieve the unpleasant emotions associated with it (apprehension, fear, stress). Choose your backpack, pencil case, pens, notebooks, etc. together.
Help him develop his “basic skills”.“
According to a teacher interviewed by our colleagues at Parents.com, “children who master some basic skills tend to feel more comfortable in the classroom”because these are things they have to learn in the first section of kindergarten.
By “basic skills” she means: holding a pencil, coloring, counting, saying and/or recognizing one’s name, getting dressed, etc. She therefore recommends that parents teach their children to acquire these basic skills during the summer, in a fun and enjoyable way so that it does not turn into a chore.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
