The first day of kindergarten is right at the door and it's time for your child to begin an educational journey that will last nearly two decades. How can you make this day smooth sailing?
Crying - First of all, be prepared for a bit of crying! It's normal! children screaming and holding on to their parents' necks or legs as if their lives depend on it is a very common scenario on the first few days at Kindergarten. Many times, they won't even want to look at the classroom or the teacher, let alone going inside alone. Don't panic!
Take a deep breath and keep a calm voice.. don't show your child that you are feeling guilty or even worse - please don't cry yourself! -- You can do that later :) it's ok - we've all done that.
Kids love routine, so kindergarten at a new school, with a new teacher and new friends is a very big change - so it's ok if they panic a little bit.
Some other children might be so used to going to nurseries and child care, that their first experience in kindergarten will be completely relaxed and easy going and they will probably sit down and start playing with the table toys prepared by the teacher.
Whatever your child's behaviour- keep a big smile on your face and BE POSITIVE.
For some children, the crying doesn’t start until they see other kids doing it. Sometimes they get scared or irritated with all the other children crying and all the noise they make in the classroom.
Don't worry, the teacher will have a very good technique to settle everybody down. In most cases, she will encourage you to leave. It will probably be the hardest thing you’ll have to do, but it really does work. Most of the time, the child stops crying within five minutes of the parent leaving.
You’ll return to school at 12:00 to find your child, happy and content. If the preschool teacher can’t get your child to calm down, she will phone you. Trust in her experience and know she has your child’s best interest at heart.
Saying goodbye to your child is going to be very hard, especially if he or she is crying, but PLEASE it is very important that if the child wants to go back out of the classroom -
DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT- It will make it much harder to bring them back in.
DO NOT CARRY YOUR CHILD TO THE CLASSROOM - if you walk holding your child's hand, first of all they will feel important and grown up as they are going to class and secondly, it is much easier for the teacher to let them in the classroom, then having to pull them off your neck if they cry and latch on.
DO NOT PROMISE THAT YOU WILL BE WAITING AT SCHOOL - OUT THE DOOR OR IN THE CORRIDOR ETC. - it will make your children tempted to run out of the class at any chance they get! - please tell them that you will go shopping or cooking etc. and you will be back to pick them up soon.
If your child does well on the first day, be prepared, the crying might happen out of nowhere, a few weeks into the school year, this is very common too. Basically the excitement of school being something new would have worn off and your child realizes that she or he isn’t with you. Keep bringing them to school and dropping them off as this too shall pass.
I wish you all an amazing experience at our school!
Best regards,
Miss Ben.
