Five ways to get your child ready for the beginning of school!
The beginning of school is just around the corner! As summer winds down our thoughts turn to getting everything, including our children, ready for school to start. I taught elementary school for 31 years in all grade levels, mostly in kindergarten. Also, I have three grown children that I got ready for school every year. Now, I am going to give you five great ways to prepare your child for school though you may be a bit surprised by my recommendations. Read on.
1. Spend quality time with your child daily.
Put down the devices, turn off the tv, remove distractions and spend time with your kids. As a parent of grown kids, I am telling you this time will fly by and will never come again so live in it fully. SAVOR every moment! Let them choose board games to play together, make cookies or another recipe together, build with legos, play Barbies or baby dolls, do a craft together, go to the park and play on the playground or take a walk, read books together, play a card game, etc. Anything to spend uninterrupted time with your little ones. I promise you a million times you will not regret it ever!
2. Start some beginning of school traditions.
The beginning of school is a yearly event like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. We all have traditions for special events. School starting back is a big event for kids! It is special too! It you start Beginning of School traditions and do them every year they will make it memorable and meaningful for you and for your kids. Here are some suggestions.
- Make school shopping day an event. Plan the day. Have a special breakfast to start the day or eat lunch at a special place. Take each child individually if possible, or get your partner or a friend to go help if you have to take several kids. Afterwards, go to a movie, or have a movie night to cap off the day.
- Make their favorite meal the night before school starts to celebrate. Have a special dessert or decorate a little to make it more special.
- Take before school pictures. As the children in your life grow up having the pictures from the beginning of each school year will be a treasure. If you like, you can include a sign with all the school year and personal information. Click this link to see some signs that are available on Amazon. Don’t forget chalk markers to give the sign some extra special touches.
- Be sure to check out our post, Five Ways to Celebrate the First Day of School, for some excellent ways to turn going back to school into a fun celebration!
3. Go to Open House Night. It's important!
It may not seem a big deal to go to Open House Night if your child is familiar with the school, has already been attending that school, knows the teacher, etc. But it really is an important part of getting ready for school so that they can get a glimpse of the new year ahead. It helps your child to feel more confident, it helps the teacher identify your child and make a connection, and it helps you make a connection with the teacher as well.
While there, it’s so very important to give your child the lead in meeting the teacher. You can always call or email the teacher if you need to. Open House is your child’s time to begin learning the necessary skill of meeting a new person, making a first impression, making conversation, having confidence. Stand back a little or even hold their hand, but let them lead. These are skills they will need in life.
4. Don't stress about your child's academic readiness.
Now, as school is beginning, is not the time to start using grade level practice books from Walmart, doing tons of flash cards, making them do all the work sent home at the end of school the year before. It will not help your child and it will stress them emotionally to the point that they will feel nervous, inadequate, or even scared about school. Schools are there to help your child learn. It’s what they do.
It would be great to “play school” with your children during this time. Just have fun with it! Practice lining up, sitting on the rug, sharing, etc. Also, here is a link to a great Facebook post about practicing eating from a lunchbox for beginning kindergarten students. It is always good to spend some time each day reading with your children and talking with them about anything and everything. That will help your child more than anything else you can do to get your child ready to go to school.
5. Be positive, supportive, and enjoy the time.
As much as possible make the beginning of school as stress free, positive and enjoyable as you can. It can be stressful for some kids and making changes can be hard. Give the kids the support to face the changes. Even if you are not happy with the teacher your child gets, or their friends not being in the same room, or the way the school does certain things, be positive. Kids internalize the negative. Help them to feel confident that they will have a good year. They will make friends, like their teacher, etc. It’s better to take each day as it comes and give the new year a shot at being the best ever. After all, it may be!
If You Need Family Fun Ideas We've Got You!
Here are some other posts with great ideas for family fun and spending time with the children in your life!
Make Homemade Chocolate Frosty ice cream together! Easy Chocolate Frosty Homemade Ice Cream
Throw a Teddy Bear Picnic: It’s a Terrific Day for a Teddy Bear Picnic
Enjoy a movie night with a meal and activity: This is Movie Night Magic: Raya and the Last Dragon
Plan a game night: The Best Board Games for Big Family Fun
Have some creative fun: Easy and Fun Ways to Grow Your Child’s Creativity
Enjoy some storytelling fun: Got Bored Kids? Ten Easy Ways to Tell a Story That Will Delight Any Child
Make life an adventure: 5 Simple Ways to Add Adventure and Excitement to Your Kid’s Lives
Have a Disney Day: Easy Ways to Add a Little Disney Magic to Your Day
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Note: Content of this post is from Karen @whatagoodday.com. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. I’m happy for you to share this post but be sure to link to this post. Thank you.
Excitement! Adults being excited about school is so important. Children really do feed off the parent’s feelings and attitude. Be joyful! Enjoy each day!