A child’s first day at school is a huge milestone – for mums AND kids! As the new school term draws ever closer, we thought we’d share some ideas about preparing pre-schoolers for that all important day.
As ever, we know that other parents are a wealth of information, so we’ve decided to make this our first ever Linky post. If you have any tips, ideas or any other relevant posts about starting school, we’d love you to link up. Or maybe you’re getting your children ready to return to school in September – posts about this are just as welcome too.
So, without further ado, here are our top three pieces of advice about preparing for school…
Talk
In our experience, talking to your child about the big changes ahead is really important. All children are different, but many kids really benefit from having some experience of a situation beforehand, in order to make it less stressful.
Talking about school can take the form of role play games at home, discussing what they’re likely to do at school, reading books at home about school and drawing pictures about school. These are all great ways to introduce the idea and to get your child used to sitting still and focussing on an activity for a period of time.
Get your child involved with the preparation
New things are exciting (kids are no different to adults!) so make the most of that interest by getting your child involved with choosing their new school kit.
There’ll be lots of things they need, from pencil cases to a lunch box, a school bag to new school shoes. By letting your pre-schooler choose their new items (or letting them help you choose the new items) you can build on some of that school excitement.
Don’t worry
Easier said than done, we know! But if you’re getting worried and emotional about the big milestone approaching, your child’s likely to pick up on it. So try (as much as possible!) to keep calm, stay positive and help encourage a sense of excitement about the new chapter in your little one’s life.
And then take LOTS of photographs – in a few months’ time this will be the norm and you’ll look back on that first day with fond nostalgia.
Now, if you have any posts on this subject we’d love to see them. So share them below and check out some of the others who’ve linked up for lots more ideas.
If you link up, we’d love a mention and a link back to this post. Thank you!
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Great post. I’m getting so emotional about it!!
We’re off to get fitted for new shoes tomorrow – eek!
New shoes – exciting! Still remember the satisfaction of wearing shiny new school shoes to school. Didn’t last shiny for long though!
Great post. My little boy just started school last week and it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.
That’s really promising to know – I’m sure it’s not as daunting an experience as many of us worry it will be.
I was emotional when my eldest started school, even worse now she is 16! Where did thevtim go! Now I am emotional AND old!! Be even worse in 15 years when the baby does his GCSEs!
I can imagine! Time goes so quickly when you’re a mum, doesn’t it?!
Thank you for this, some helpful information. We just had our home visit, our “baby” starts nursery this Friday, the teacher and teaching assistant were great with her, it was an opportunity for us to ask questions and for them to gauge what level our daughter is at. Our baby has grown up so fast but it is a time to embrace and like you say; take plenty of pictures! We have prepared our dsughter for nursery by talking about it with her, letting her tell us what she thinks it will be like and of course telling her how wonderful she is. She has a book bag, a personalised mug and is no longer our baby. Very nervous about her first day on Friday but after seeing her with the teachers today, I don’t think she has anything to worry about.
Those are great suggestions for ways to prepare little ones for a change. A book bag is another brilliant idea, to give children something to take and look after when they get to pre-school and school.