Tips for Preparing Your Child for Preschool
If the time has come for your child to start preschool, then you are likely feeling apprehensive about the upcoming adjustment period. The truth is that some children adjust to preschool very easily while others struggle for a bit before they get the hang of it. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to help prepare your child for preschool and ease the transition period for your whole family.
Here are some tips to help ease your child's transition to preschool.
Tip: Visit Your Child's New Preschool Together
Once you have selected a new preschool for your child, then you should spend some time there together with your child if at all possible. Sit with your child and their teacher. Spending this time together helps to reinforce for your child that their teacher is a safe person that you like and trust. If you simply drop your child off with their new teacher on the first day of school, then your child will be scared because they will feel like there isn't anyone there that they know or can trust.
Tip: Arrange for Your Child to Meet Other Students Before School Starts
If your child starts preschool with other children they know, then they will be a lot more comfortable because they will be distracted by playing with their friends. Before preschool starts, you can ask your child's teacher for a list of other parents whose children will be in your child's class. Call up some other parents and arrange to meet up somewhere to get acquainted. While this may not feel comfortable for you to do, it will make you child's transition to preschool a lot easier if they know the other children, and you might get the added bonus of meeting some new friends.
Tip: Let Your Child Select a New Backpack
When your preschooler watches children's television shows, they see kids wearing backpacks when they go to school. You can use this association to help your child get excited about going to school. Rather than buying a backpack for your child and bringing it home, take your child out to select their own backpack to take to their new school. Allowing your child to choose their own backpack helps to give them a healthy sense of control over the changes that are coming soon in their life.
Finally, before your child leaves for preschool for the first time, make sure that you write their name on their new backpack. This will help keep it from getting confused with those of other students. Talk to professionals at schools like Wooden Shoe Pre-School & Pre-Kindergarten for more information.