5 Ways to Help Prepare your Child for School (Tips for Parents)

The first day of school can be nerve-wracking for every child. Starting school can be a difficult time for children. Every child is hesitant to go somewhere new and see people he or she’s never met before. Here are some helpful ways to prepare your child for her first day of school:

Vicky Lunnon from British International School Abu Dhabi shares advice on how parents can help ease the anxiety in children; advising that you can speak to children about school in a positive light, and even build a routine to help them adjust.

The following transcript is auto-generated from Youtube

Hi, my name is Vicky Lunnon. I’m a nursery teacher at the British International School Abu Dhabi
For more educational videos, please subscribe or leave any feedback below, thank you!
Today I’m going to talk about five hints and tips that might help you get your child ready for their first day at school
The first one is to talk positively about school.
With your child having a place at the school you would already to come and visit
You may have a play date at the school and an assessment period.
So it’s a really good opportunity to talk about the new teacher, the new classroom
maybe the area they played in, the things they liked about the school
If they have a sibling, it may be worth bringing them in with the sibling,
so they can have a look around to school, so they can get to know the environment
they’re coming into, and as a parent, you can feel very comfortable as well about the environment,
you are going to be leaving your child in
The second point is to try and get your child as independent as possible
and this is doing very small things, toilet training, maybe if they can help make their bed in the morning
make small snacks, things like this, it just gets them ready
for when they come into school, and there will be a requirement for those to
to do those things themselves
it just gets them better prepared for that day when they first start school
The third point is really reading to your children. The more story information and language
they have coming into school, the more familiar they are with the stories
with the reading area with their visits to the
the library
the more they’re going to
feel part of that class so the more
expressive stories, those really rich
language story, rich language
traditional tales. All of those things
are really helpful to get a child into
school and if your child has a favorite
story by all means let your teacher know
and they can make sure that they’re
reading that in the first week as well
which really helps the child feel
settled and part of the class.
okay the
fourth point is to play with your child
and I know you’re doing this already but
all the imaginative play that you can
play with your child really develops
their language bank and also their
social skills so when they come into the
class and suddenly they’re sharing with
18, 19 other children, they’re really used
to that play. Children really socialize
through their play so it’s a really good
way of
getting them to make friends and really feel
part of that class and that class really
becomes their environment.
okay and my
fifth point, my final point is really
about routine. If children can get into a
regular bedtime routine, going to bed at
the same time maybe having a story and a
bath ready for bed and the same in the
morning. If they wake up at the same time
they have the same routine for breakfast
so they’re really ready for when school
starts, those things are really important.
School runs very tightly on routine and
it really helps children get ready for
school if they’re in those routines. I really
hope these tips have helped you and we
look forward to your children starting
their new school. Thank you!