7 tips to prepare your kid for Primary School
It’s the beginning of a new chapter, and your child does not seem a bit worried about Primary School. As the parent, you are the one who is flustered and thinking about what is going to happen on the first week on January. With school starting soon, here are 7 helpful tips on how to make the transition easier for your child. (Check out also our earlier post, from the experts at Julia Gabriel on how to make the primary school transition) Without further adieu, here it goes:
7 tips to prepare your kid for Primary School:
- Prepare your Child
Most children are not too worried about the first until it happens. I have 3 kids, and they were only apprehensive at the last hour. The children don’t know what to expect, and rightly so, as this is a totally new experience to them. First off, Parent take a deep breathe and relax! Things ain’t that bad, so don’t let those parenting anxieties get to you. Don’t overload the kids with too much information, but slowly feed them important information one day at a time. Anxiety is transferable, so you are going to be surprised, how well they can handle their first day of school! 🙂
2. Join the Class Chat Group
Be friendly. This is NOT the time to maintain privacy and be aloof. There’s usually 1-2 parent in the class who would gather all the parent’s contact number and set up a Whatsapp chat. Please join that list. If no one does it, Grab a blank paper, draw a few columns and pass the paper around. Get Name and Contact number and Child’s name. You can start that list!
Things that happen in the chat range from the really mundane “When is spelling next week” to the photo spams when there’s any class event. And there’s important things like NO SCHOOL on Thursday but your child forgot to tell you or No need bring School Bag on Friday…
3. Go to the Canteen and Research
Find out how much food costs. Different schools have different price lists. My older kids can have chicken rice at $0.80, but the youngest one gets hers at $1.30!! This means the youngest one gets more pocket money than her siblings. And it’s definitely not a Age Thing.
Go find out anytime this week. The schools are open as the bookstores are open for parents to pick up their books. It’s a good time to go find out.
4. Pocket Money
Many are curious how to distribute the allowance and the wallet/purse your child can use. My wife wrote a brilliant article on this and it still works now for our kids! Check out how you can handle Primary School Allowance and Pocket Money here.
5. Timetables
Yes, the school will have your child’s timetable during lesson time. You may want to set timetables for after-school hours. This helps to keep your child on schedule esp if you have any tuition classes, enrichment and if you want your child to do their homework in the afternoon.
Again, my wife shared our kids’ schedule and the challenges we face planning them! Read about Planning Primary School Schedule here.
6. Sleeping Time
Now that most schools are single session, many kids have to get up at 6 in the morning. This means, they should be sleeping much earlier than their pre-school days. This also means significant adjustment for the family. Do think and start planning.
For our family, we all try to be home early. Dinner ends early. As you read our schedule, kids have to finish their homework BEFORE we reach home, so that time spent together in the nights are not school work related. We settle the kids, get them to bed, then we do our work or catch up on any TV or reading! Life changes when school starts!
7. Guide them to pack
Getting the uniforms and school bags packed are important. Parents and helpers can help. but its also important that Junior learns how to prepare themselves for school. With so many textbooks, you also don’t want to overload their small little frames. (Do they need an ergonomic school bag?), Put them on a daily ritual of packing their school bags, and preparing themselves for school.
Most lastly, Communicate with your child. If you are on a busy schedule, make sure you come home early, and spend an hour talking to your child, and help them unwind. They may have spent the afternoon at day-care or at grandma’s house, but parents are still the best people to help them “ünwind” and understand the new changes in their life.
Anxious and uptight parents don’t make school fun! Let them enjoy school at their own pace, as every child is different. As we mentally prepare our kids for primary school and cover them with our prayers, I am sure that we can make this Primary school transition, a smooth one! 🙂