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learning

5 smart tips on getting your kid ready for kindergarten without tears

06/01/2021 By Savanna Robinson Leave a Comment

Are you at that point of life where your kid is ready to begin kindergarten? Or first year of schooling? Whatever they call it where you live. It can be a daunting and harrowing time for both parent and child, so we try to do everything we can to make the transition as tear free as possible. I’m at this point again in my life this year. The eldest finished up her schooling journey a year ago, but now the youngest is set to begin kindergarten in 2021. So I’ve put together 5 smart tips on getting your kid ready for kindergarten without tears from my experiences the first time round with daughter #1, many years as a kindergarten teacher and this year’s journey with daughter #2.

5 smart tips on getting your kid ready for kindergarten without tears
Getting your kid ready for kindergarten

Tip 1- Preschooling

The number one tip to help in getting your kid ready for kindergarten (ie first year of schooling) is to make sure your child has some form of preschooling. Whether this be an actual preschool they attend, a preschool program at your daycare centre or at minimum going to a regular playgroup, it is a vital step to a successful transition to formal schooling. Your kid needs to have been away from your side (or your extended family) and worked on socialising with other adults and children.

During my experiences teaching kindergarten for many years it is the children who have never been away from their family for any time that have the hardest time adjusting to kindergarten. They are scared, may cry for weeks and don’t know how to interact with an adult and other children who will not just give in to their immediate demands. And as more demands are made on the curriculum requirements for these children beginning school each year it keeps getting harder for those with no preschooling opportunities.

Tip 2- Preparation

Start getting your child ready for kindergarten transition as early as you can. My 4 year old has been a little bit anxious about kindergarten since the beginning of last year when her little cousin who she’d spend time being cared for at her grandparents place started big school himself. So we had to work on reassuring her that kindergarten was still a year away for her and that she’d do many things that would help her not feel anxious or scared about it (some of which didn’t eventuate due to Covid restrictions, but still helped her feel more prepared and ready as she neared this milestone).

If in a preschooling program many of these preparations will be covered in that, but it doesn’t hurt to cover these at home too. Involve your kid in talks about how they will soon go to kindergarten as they are growing up. Touch on things they may do there at big school and that you will be getting ready for this exciting time. If they express any fears about what is to come, talk through that and work out a plan you can work on together to overcome those fears. Read stories or watch videos about starting school.

Participate in orientation programs the school provides when you are enrolled for the next year. In Australian schools these are usually in Term 4 of school. Pre-Covid orientations involved parent introductions to the school and services and usually 3 or 4 sessions for the children to visit and experience ‘big school’. 2020 made those orientations quite difficult for kids starting kindergarten this year. Every school around our state managed orientation in their own different way and adhering to social distancing requirements. Our little miss got a one hour visit where she watched a video and then made a Humpty Dumpty and did some tracing practice. She then came home with the library bag the school give each child starting and a booklet of information about starting school. Parents didn’t get to have their usual meeting, but were provided all information about the school via a link posted on the school’s social media page.

Tip 3- Practise

Now when I say practise I’m not just referring to the skills that your child will need to complete work in Kindergarten. Yes, your child should have experience with using pencils to draw, trace and colour, talking to other children and adults, looking at books and counting objects. But they need to also practise doing other tasks that are involved in a school day.

Things such as

  • Being able to dress themselves with everything ready for school.
  •  Put on and take off items off like shoes, socks, jumpers, jackets, hats.
  • Open a lunch box or snack container.
  • Open packets of food – store bought, zip lock bag, gladwrap, etc.
  • Being able to sit on a child sized chair and pull it closer in to the table.
  • Being responsible for their own belongings.
  • Open zippers or clips on school bags.

Tip 4- Requirements

Every kindergarten class has items that your child will need for the year. Be prepared and arrange to have these in advance of the first day. Depending where your school is situated these could include uniforms, school bags, paint shirts, library bags, lunch box, drink bottle, devices, headphones, stationery, tissues, wipes, etc. Contact your school for what exact requirements they have as some can be very brand specific on what they request.

Tip 5- Involvement

Your child will feel more confident and comfortable with the idea of school if they are involved in the collection of their school requirements (see tip 4). Of course uniform shopping is often the easiest one for them to participate in as you need to check sizing and want it to fit now, but also last the school year. Don’t forget school shoes and practise wearing them so they don’t cause blisters on the first week of school!

Then you can ask for their input in items they will take with them every day. Buy a bag in their favourite colour. Test out which lunch boxes your child can open and likes. Involve them in as many of these small decisions as you can to help them feel ready for kindergarten. This is especially important for kids with anxieties.

Good luck

Hopefully these few tips help you manage your transition of getting your kid ready for kindergarten. If you would like some additional ideas for getting your kid ready for kindergarten and big school, see my download here of things teachers will be eternally grateful to you if you implement them. (COMING SOON)

For those looking for some printable activities for the practice with tracing activities see my friend Beck’s page.

To read more on being an organised mum click here.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: children, learning, mumlife

Why toddlers drive us crazy (or at least a little bit nutty)

16/07/2017 By Savanna Robinson 7 Comments

You hear it all the time from mother’s of children under the age of 4. My toddler is driving me crazy! I can’t do a single thing whilst they’re around! Can they please stop whining? It will drive me insane if I have to do this for 3 more years! Help! Pass the wine please! And yet we never seem to know why toddlers drive us crazy. why toddlers drive us crazy - girl toddler peering into a blue bucket

Yes mums! We’ve all been there! From the time when they start moving on their own we are in a constant hyper vigilant state of watching what they might get into next, finding out that they can now reach higher than they could yesterday and more redesigning of the house needs to take place. Planning if it’s easier to just get rid of everything in the house or just move to somewhere bigger where they can be confined to an entire room by themselves. There are good reasons why toddlers drive us crazy though. Let me explain!toddlers drive us crazy

Why do toddlers do these crazy things?

Well, it’s actually all part of their development to want to explore and test out these new things they can do. If I grab this basket, it falls down on top of me. Wow! Let’s do that again! Hey mummy! What’s with taking it away? I’ve just discovered this cool new concept…I think I’ll call it falling down. Okay, let’s go see if I can make something else fall down.

I call my little toddler an explorer as she’s not content to sit and play with the boys at mother’s group. She has to go test out the bubblers…all 4 of them! To see what’s on the other side of the park…then come back to check mummy hasn’t left her. Then off again to watch that marvellous thing mummy calls a swing. toddlers drive us crazy

It’s all about learning

Everything is brand new to the toddler mind and it’s natural for them to be inquisitive about it. Otherwise how else would we learn all these amazing things as humans? Just this evening my toddler stood outside while I took clothes off the line and stared, fascinated with the dark clouds in the evening sky. Something we as adults have seen so many hundreds of time. But to a little toddler, it’s a stunning new experience. There’s things in the sky. Why do they move. What are they doing up there. I wonder what they are called. toddlers drive us crazy

Toddlers are beginning to develop their vocabulary. At first they won’t have many words, but they will understand a lot more than they can say themselves. It’s super important to help build on the words they know, to help with their speech development. As tiresome as it can be to name every single thing your toddler points to in a 30 minute pointing session, it is so great for their language skills to have you repeat those words again and again for their tiny brains to process and categorise. That thing is a cup, but so is that one, and that one. toddlers drive us crazy

Plus toddlers are so very impressionable! They are like tiny sponges that can soak up everything around them, and then try to repeat that word/action by themselves. I’m constantly reminding my husband to watch his language when around little Ellie, as I know how children can so easily pick up that one word you really don’t want them repeating to the entire world. And though you know that if you don’t make a fuss about it, it might not be a repeated event, they seem to have a knack of catching you off guard. Oh my goodness! What word did she just say to that old man! I am so embarrassed! toddlers drive us crazy

Now for some skills

This impressionable stage helps the toddler learn a lot of skills they need in life…and maybe a few we wish they didn’t learn. From the start they watch parent’s faces. They watch us eat our food, and eventually we let them have a go at that stuff. Of course shoving a whole handful of chips into her mouth is not what you expect them to pick up (hubby to blame again!) And does anyone know a toddler who does not mimic a phone conversation on any item they can find around the house. Our little one even mimics her father’s speech patterns to a tee! toddlers drive us crazy

One skill I didn’t think my toddler would pick up so quickly was trying to play the chanter of a bagpipe. Hubby plays it one time, yes, one time for her. For about 2 minutes before heading off to work. I go to the bathroom, turn around from washing my hands and find her standing there with his chanter. Making the noise with her mouth as she can’t work out how to blow in it, but knows how it’s supposed to sound. Now anytime she finds something vaguely cylindrical she has to play it like a bagpipe chanter. toddlers drive us crazy

Working out our world

what can I do next to drive mum crazy- why toddlers drive us crazy - toddler girl eating orange piecesWe know that toddlers are not doing it intentionally. They don’t stay up late at night plotting ‘What can I do next to drive her crazy?’ Our tiny little terrors are just trying to work out this crazy world with the rest of us… we have just had been longer at working on it. See I told you there were good reasons why toddlers drive us crazy! toddlers drive us crazy

Looking to the future

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In all honesty, though toddlers drive us crazy, at least they can be quite cute about it. Or at least mine is! Nature’s way of keeping them safe during those trying moments I suspect. toddlers drive us crazy

Plus the next stage along will be better (we hope). Or if not better, at least will throw some differences our way!

If you want some tips on amusing your toddler on a cruise, come check out here.

Or come join me in my Facebook Group to talk about more toddler moments.

78 reasons why my child is having a tantrum

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Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: language development, learning, skills, toddlers

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Trying this out for a few weeks. My teen thinks it Trying this out for a few weeks. My teen thinks it’s pretty good when she doesn’t feel like much breakfast (anxiety affects her feeling up to eating in the mornings). She loves the Ensure vanilla flavour. To me it’s bearable. Not a big fan of vanilla drinks. Will be interesting seeing what the chocolate is like.

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When your 3 year old is already planning her next When your 3 year old is already planning her next birthday party. 
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