Back to School Hacks for a Smooth Transition
As a veteran teacher and parent to young children, I have experienced countless Back to School transitions. While many young children may be anxious about separating from parents and meeting new peers and teachers, keep in mind that calm parents equal calm children!
Here are a few ways to empower your child to do for themselves, boosting their self-confidence and self-esteem through their independence.
Use a Calendar
As a parent, you probably already recognize that children thrive with an established structure and routine. Before the age of six, children are concrete and visual learners, the use of a visual calendar is helpful in establishing a schedule. If your child is not yet reading, you can use pictures or symbols to identify school days and weekends. To ease any uncertainty, it is also helpful to illustrate for your child details about their week. Is grandma picking up one day? Going to after-care another? Represent those moments on the calendar so your child will feel assured in knowing what to expect.
Practice Opening and Closing Lunch Containers
If your child will be eating a snack or lunch at school, begin familiarizing them with the equipment they may need to care for independently. These containers make a “clicking” sound when snapping shut, which will meet your child’s auditory interest and create satisfaction when used. The metal containers by Lunch Bots are also easy to handle for young children. Prior to the start of school, work with your child to pack up a snack or lunch and practice using them during an outing, so your child begins to confidently manage them. You can also go grocery shopping with your child so they can pick out what they may be interested in eating at school. If your child is invested in the process, they will be more likely to eat the food in front of them.
Come Up with a Plan to say Goodbye
Talk with your child about how they would like to say goodbye before getting dropped off. Find a special way to create routine and limits around how you will leave. Is it a long hug? A high five? A special handshake? A whispered message? Children are creatures of habit and find security in the consistency of repetition, so establish a goodbye that can be easily repeated each morning.
Find out from your school what the drop-off routine is so that you can go to school, or practice with your child beforehand. Look for opportunities to prepare and communicate to your child what is coming. “We are pulling into the parking lot, so we are going to say goodbye soon.”
Use Name Labels
Most schools will ask you to label your children’s belongings. The use of a personalized, stickered name label, or image will support your child’s independence in recognizing what they are responsible for. If they have a new jacket or pair of shoes that they are not yet familiar with, they will easily be able to identify their clothing.
Read Books Together
Children process abstract ideas through stories and characters in books. Read some books about heading to school, so your child will begin to feel comforted through the narration of others experiences.
Act it Out
Children love acting things out and feeling prepared. Practicing the new routines will begin to build muscle memory around what is to come. Pretend to leave the house with all their belongings, or drive to the school to pretend to do a drop off. It may feel silly, but have fun with it, so your child will have established a concrete feeling of what it will look like when the actual day arrives.
As a parent, you may be emotional during this transition as well. Ensure that your child feels your confidence in them as they separate and talk through any emotions. “I understand you may be feeling nervous, but I know how brave you will be at school!”
