Sending a child to his first day of kindergarten is an emotional experience for me. It marks the end of an era. It is an obvious turning of the page from toddlerhood into full-blown childhood. I’m also pretty sure that there is something about school that speeds up time. That little one that I think will be my baby forever is suddenly growing up so quickly I can barely keep up! So in honor of back-to-school time, I thought it might be helpful to write out some ideas and thoughts about preparing your child for kindergarten. Here in Houston, kindergarten is a full-day affair, so if you are lucky enough to have a half-day deal in your neck of the woods, some of these thoughts may not be relevant to you and your situation until next year.
WARDROBE PREP
Make sure you buy school clothes and shoes early enough that your child can try on everything and be sure she can zip/button/snap all necessary closures. You don’t want to send her to school in something she isn’t familiar with so that she can’t go to the restroom by herself at school. You may be picking up a very embarrassed child who either had an accident, came out of the restroom not fully dressed, or cried in the restroom until her teacher came in to help her. You want to be sure you’ve set her up for success. If her school dress code requires her to wear a belt, be sure she has practiced wearing the belt for at least a week before she goes to school so she can open and close it easily when she needs to go to the restroom.
Go over the school’s dress code rules with your child. Most schools are not ultra-strict with kindergarteners, but if she already knows the rules when she arrives, she will be far less stressed about it. If your school requires shirts to be tucked in and/or uniforms to be worn, these are excellent things to familiarize your child with at least a week before the big day.
Don’t forget shoes! If you bought shoes with laces, this could be the perfect time to teach your child how to tie her shoes. She will feel more confidence knowing she can take care of herself while she is away at school all day and I’m sure your child’s teacher will appreciate one less pair of shoes to tie each day!
I would also recommend having a back-up outfit at school for your child. If your child has space in a cubby or shelf at school, you may want to store an extra outfit + underwear and socks in a plastic bag (I use an old store bag, preferably a thicker one that isn’t see-through). I put my sons’ back-up clothes in the very back of their backpacks. This saves lots of embarrassment if any sort of accident happens—whether restroom related/mud related/food spill related/whatever. Show your child what you have put inside the bag and where it will be in case she needs it. Help her understand she will put the dirty clothes into the plastic bag and bring them home in her backpack once she has changed.
FOOD PREP
Talk about lunch. Will you be sending your child with a lunch each day? Will he be eating school lunch from the cafeteria? When you go to the school for any parent orientations or Meet the Teacher events, be sure to ask for as much information as possible about lunch procedures. This can be a very stressful time for kids and demystifying some of this in advance is great. For example, our boys’ school enforces a rule of silence for the first 10 minutes of lunch, so that kids actually eat some of their food before they begin talking with their friends. This can be challenging for kindergarteners and I am sure our school gives them grace, but imagine how much better your child will feel if this concept is not new to him when he gets there. We helped prepare our kids by setting the timer on the microwave for 10 minutes and encouraging them to eat their lunches silently for those first 10 minutes. This helped them a lot.
If you are packing lunches for your child each day, be sure to find out if there are any food restrictions within the classroom. For example, one of my twins was in a kindergarten class with a boy who had a peanut allergy. The school kept the boy at a different table, but my son wanted to sit with him sometimes, so I would intentionally pack peanut-free lunches so he could sit by his friend. Also, on days when he did eat peanut butter, I sent him with an extra wipe in his lunch so he could clean his hands after lunch and not endanger his friend. If you can, buy the types of foods you will pack in your child’s lunches in advance and pack a lunch for him so he can practice eating it out of his lunchbox/kit. Sometimes those containers are tricky to open and you don’t want his first time to be when he is already nervous on his first day of school. Finally, think about packaging: if you’re packing a cheese stick or a Go-gurt, can your child open them on his own? If he can’t he may be too afraid to ask for help, or it may mean he runs out of eating time while he is waiting for his turn to get his foods open. We practiced opening packages at home first and I found that I could snip just a millimeter more into the Go-gurt tube and it wouldn’t fully open, but it would be easier for my boys to open. What will he take to drink? A juice box? A water bottle? Make sure he knows how to drink from it, whatever it is. One final word about packing a lunch: write your child’s name on everything, especially at first! These things are new to everyone, so mix-ups are bound to happen. Someone mistakenly took my son’s lunch box one time (I had written his name only on the inside)and it really messed up his day.
If you are buying school lunches for your child each day, go over the menu with him. Help him know in advance what he can expect to see in the line and help him understand what he should and should not do. For example, find out if the school offers more than one choice of a fruit and vegetable each day and if so, will you be charged extra if your child chooses both? Knowing in advance how the lunch line works is SO helpful. Some schools require your child to learn an ID # that they type into a little keypad to pay for lunch each day. Most schools now have an online system where you can go online and pay for lunches electronically and you won’t have to send lunch money with your child. These are very convenient, just make sure you keep your account current! If the school does a special ice cream or cookie treat once a week/month, find out if they charge for it. Discuss with your child in advance if that is something you will pay for or not.
Most kindergarteners have a snack time. Find out how this will work in your child’s classroom. Will you send a snack for him each day? Will you send a snack for the whole class once a month? For our kids, we had to pack a snack for our children each day. We packed the day’s snacks in a Ziploc bag with the child’s name on it. Putting the name on the bag is helpful even if your teacher doesn’t require it because sometimes snacks get mixed up or taken and having a name on the bag really reduces that risk. You may want to bring your child to the store and allow him to choose what he’d like to eat for his snack each day. Consider packaging here, as well: you want your child to be able to open the packaging easily and quickly so he has time to eat his snack. Because of food allergies and intolerances, many schools now enforce strict no-sharing policies. If this is the case in your school, make sure your child understands this in advance so he does not get in trouble for sharing—talk about a potentially confusing situation!
Kindergarten is so much fun! We have a fun little book called The Night Before Kindergarten that we like to read the night before the first day of school. It is a fun little tradition. We also read The Night Before First Grade on the night before 1st grade.
Hopefully these little preparations will help ensure that your kindergartener starts off on the right foot with confidence. What do you do to prepare?
