Preschool: Separation Anxiety
This is part of a series on a Bloggers’ forum that was conducted with Julia Gabriel. You can find out more about the Julia Gabriel Forum here and here.
One of the questions I asked our Pre-School experts was:
How can I prepare my child for school, and help them prepare for the much anticipated 1st day at school?
I asked this question, as the 1st day of pre-school is commonly a day of tears and much crying. Sometimes, it is a day where you see parents “tearing” their kids off them, as they try to drop them off at school.
Fiona Walker (CEO of Julia Gabriel for Learning & Chiltern House) reiterated that it is important to prepare them for this journey by not just preparing them mentally but also “stretching the bond” between child and care-giver.
There seems to be an “invisible” chord between child and care-giver.
I am sure you understand what I mean as sometimes our toddlers cry like “there’s no tomorrow”, when you:
- Leave them to go to the toilet
- Walk briskly to take something from the bedroom
- Put them into the hands of a relative or a good friend.
- And the list goes on….
As Parents, we need to stretch this cord as much as we can!
We start slowly by:
- Going down to the shop downstairs without them
- Leaving them at a Grandparent’s house.
- Letting them join a party at a friend’s house alone
- Putting them into Sunday School without a helper around.
Both myself and my wife are working, so I guess we have been doing these things sub-consciously.
It also helps that after we have broken through with Nicole, Nathan seemed to take to school like a “fish in the water”.
Mentally, he knows that it is the norm, and that’s probably why he did not really “kick up a fuss”, when he went to school. So, having a sibling that sets the pattern really helps!