Back to School: Tips and Tricks For Parents and Their Little Ones
Summertime flew by and it is that time of the year again, back to school! Back to school is an exciting and sometimes stressful time for both parents and children, but here at balafant we have some tricks and tips that may help to make the back to school experience run as smoothly as possible!
Whether its daycare, nursery school, kindergarten or grade school our little ones need our guidance, comfort, and support while going into this new chapter in their lives. Familiarizing your little one with their new environment is a good place to start. Making your little one comfortable in their environment is important since they will be spending a lot of time there away from the comfort of parents and their home. We suggest that parents take their little ones on a walk around the school grounds and have play time on the playground in order to get your child more comfortable and familiar with environment before the first day. If possible show your little one around the inside of the school and their classroom, where they will be having lunch etc. Doing this will make the first day less intimidating and allow your little one to be more comfortable at school
Making back to school a positive experience for your little one is also very important so they can enter the year with a positive attitude and outlook on school. Doing this involves talking about back to school with your children by bringing up things like classmates that they will meet or maybe their favourite activities and subjects for example gym class and art class! Talking about their teacher and using their teacher’s name is also important so they know who their teacher is and as well as their name.
Another great tip to making back to school something to get excited about, is telling your child about your positive memories of when you were young and went to school. Talk about your favourite parts of school for example we all remember how much fun show and tell was! One of my personal favourite memories was in gym class when we got to take out the big parachute and sit under it and play cat and mouse. Sharing personal stories will help your little one look forward to school and all the fun things it has offer!
Let’s not forget why we all got excited about back to school- back to school shopping. Make sure you bring your little one along for back to school shopping so they can help pick out their backpacks, lunch bag, pencil case etc. Including your little one in this gets them more involved and excited about going to school. When I was a kid my mom used to print off the list that the school gave us of a list of all the supplies we needed and she took my sister and I to the store to get all of our supplies. Picking out my own pencils, markers, pencil case etc. was always an exciting part of back to school for me.
The last thing that is essential to make back to school run smoothly is making sure your child is prepared for the routine of their school day. Familiarize your child with the school schedule by getting your little one used to walking up to a certain time as they will be for school, as well as give snacks and lunch at the same time the school will be doing so. If there is nap time make sure you get them used to taking their nap at that time of the day. Doing all this will allow your little one’s school day to run smoothly without getting cranky or tired. It is also important to let your little one know who will be dropping them off and how they are going to be getting to school, as well as who is picking them up from school and how they are getting home. It is best if you make the pick-up and drop-off schedule as consistent as possible so your child can build a routine which makes back to school less stressful.
balafant boutik wishes everyone a happy back to school! We hope that our tips and tricks are helpful in this transition.