Prepare Your Child For Starting School

Is your child going to be starting school soon? It’s a mixture of both exciting and nerve wracking for both you and your child. It’s tough, but you’ve got to make sure that you are doing everything in your power to prepare them for school to the best of your ability. Sure, it takes time, and sure, it’s not going to be easy as your little one is growing up, but you’ve got this.

It might be the case, though, that you’re not entirely sure where to start, and that’s where we come in. We’ve written a list of things that you should be doing to prepare your child starting for school so that you don’t have to panic. If you would like to find out more, feel free to read on.

Set Your Routines Early

First, you should make sure that you are setting up the right routines. This is the easiest way to keep things on track for you as well as your child. It’s one of the easiest ways to make things as stress-free as possible for your kids because it means that they know what to expect each and every day. This is also great for you because it gives you a routine that you can follow each and every morning without fail. Don’t forget, you can have a routine for the end of the day as well. This is particularly useful if things get overwhelming when your child comes in from school. 

Send Them To Childcare

Next, you should consider sending your kids to childcare before they start school. By sending your kids to childcare, you can give them an idea of what they should expect when they start school. This could include everything from a lunchtime routine to elements such as playing with other kids. By giving them a solid understanding of what to expect it’s less jarring when they begin for the first few weeks. If you are going to send them to childcare  then do make sure that you check the reviews of the person that you are thinking about using. There are lots of different childcare options, even in your local area. That’s why it’s important to make sure that you are checking lots of different places. 

Talk To Your Child

It’s important that you are talking to your child about what is to come. They need to know what to expect from school, what is going to happen, and this should help them avoid being scared. A lot of the time, you find that when kids are scared of something, it’s all to do with the unknown which can be scary for anyone. So, if you talk to them, they don’t have to feel this way.

As well as talking to them, you need to be listening to them. Hear their concerns. Address anything that they are worried about, and hopefully through this communication you will be able to ease their fears. 

Read To Them 

The next thing that we’re going to talk about is reading to your children. A lot of parents skip this these days for one reason or another, but it’s massively important to your child’s development. Not reading to them can put them behind, as this is how they expand their vocabulary, this is how they improve their own speech, and it’s how they learn new sounds. They can’t read, but you reading to them is going to help them to a point where they can.

There are lots of fun books that you can read, but you can also try to make this educational to some degree. We’re not suggesting whipping out the phonics book when it’s bedtime, but options like 54 Fun Kindergarten Activities for Learning – Begin Learning during the day can be a great way to encourage them to learn their letters and words.

Buy Uniforms 

If your school has a uniform, you’re going to need to make sure that you have got this sorted before their first day. The last thing that they need is to be singled out as someone who isn’t wearing the correct uniform for whatever reason. Check the school uniform policy, see what it says, and then see what you can do. More often than not, the school has their own supplier for logo’d items, and you will need to purchase those from there.

However, they can be expensive, and schools do tend to be lenient on this due to the cost. For example, a lot of schools will allow their students to wear items of clothing that don’t have the school logo, as long as they are the correct color and the correct part of the uniform. Just make sure that you have their uniform ready to go on the morning they start school.

Always Have Breakfast 

It’s true what they say – breakfast is the most important meal of the day and this is absolutely the case for children who are thinking about starting a day at school for the first time. You can try lots of different choices for breakfast before finding the right options for your kids. For instance, you might want to consider fruit for an easy breakfast and porridge during the winter when they need a little heating up. 

Packed Lunch 

Another point to think about is whether or not you are going to provide your kids with a packed lunch. Be aware that there are lots of different choices that you can explore for a child’s packed lunch. You might also decide to choose school dinners for your child, these may be free depending on your circumstances. If you go ahead with packed lunch then these need to be healthy items your child enjoys. 

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you can take to prepare your kids for the first day of school. In doing so, you can make sure that things go off without a hitch from day one. This can make things less stressful for you and less stressful for your kids.