Tips To Help Your Child Adjust To Preschool

Most parents realize the benefits of preschool like children learning to interact with his/her peers, how to share and follow rules, with preschool preparing a child for kindergarten. Preschool may make parents experience mixed emotions concerning the child’s readiness for preschool, while it may cause anxiety and anticipation in children about being unfamiliar with kids and teachers.

Here are a few tips that could help your child adjust to preschool:

It is necessary that we as parents are comfortable about the decision to send our child to preschool and make the child familiar with settings of preschool. Talking to the child about preschool and the various activities in it like scribbling with crayons that he did at home before start would assure the child that preschool is nothing to be feared and is real fun.

Visiting your child’s first preschool classroom a few times before school gives you and the child an opportunity to meet the child’s teacher and become familiar with the routine and common activities. It also helps the child to observe the class and interact with others kids and gives parents an opportunity to introduce these activities and routine at home.  All this ensures the child is familiar and comfortable with the class.

Ask the teacher how she handles the first few tear-filled days and how she would make the transition smooth. In addition give all support to the child, but do not make a big fuss of the change from home to pre-school.  The more confident and calm you are the child would also be.

On the first day of school reintroduce the teacher to the child and allow the teacher to begin forming the teacher-child relationship. Your introduction is the best endorsement to the child that he/she will be safe in her care.

Do not get upset if the child clings to you and refuses to cooperate in the class; children read non-verbal cues also and could also be upset. Remember to always say a loving goodbye and leave immediately; a consistent and predictable goodbye would make the farewell ritual easier. Sneaking or prolonging the goodbye would reinforce in the child that pre-school is a bad place; most kids do well after their parents leave.

It would help to allow the child to carry certain transitional objects like a family picture, a special doll, or a favorite blanket to comfort the child.

Ensure that a school staff member takes charge of the child to transfer him/her to the classroom once you arrive in the morning with him/her; this attitude helps both in the case of eager and reluctant children. It would also help for children that need to be cuddled and told a story before joining the group.

Finally most good preschools follow a daily ritual of circle time when teachers and children recapitulate the activities that happened the previous day. With some sort of predictability and routine, preschools are sure to make children comfortable and ease the discomfort of moving from home to preschool.    

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