How to Prepare a Child for School

As a parent, your instinctual response is to prepare your child for every new situation they encounter so that they have positive experiences and are well-equipped to navigate the world independently. Starting school is one of the more formative experiences you will prepare them for. Before their first day of preschool, your child will have no understanding of what school is, which makes it necessary for you to help prepare them for success.

If you are wondering how to prepare a child for school, you are not alone. Early childhood education will impact your child’s overall relationship to learning and being in school. It is vital to prepare them to have the most positive experience possible. To help you transition from summer to the classroom, we have compiled a guide of helpful tips to implement into your routine that will set your child up for educational success.

Preparing My Child for School: A Guide

Preparing your child to enter school or move to a new grade level can be daunting. How do you ensure that they are ready and form a positive association with it? The key to setting your child up for learning success is helping them to be ready. School readiness means helping your child form the skills they will need to succeed in early childhood education, such as communication, social, academic, and independent task completion.

Children at all levels of education must be prepared to tackle the new challenges they will face in the classroom. Some of the tips outlined below are geared towards young children entering school for the first time and others towards older ones transitioning to a new grade after summer. The advice about preparing your child for school is a helpful tool you can implement into your daily routine. By following this useful guide, you can ensure your child has the skills and confidence needed to be successful in school.

Enroll Your Child in Early Education

If your child has yet to gain experience with school, enrolling them in early education can be very helpful in preparing them for school. Preschool helps to teach young children the skills they will need in school. In early education, children are instructed to sit and listen, contribute to classroom conversations, work with others, share, and do activities such as making art or using glue.

Attend the School Orientation

If the school your child will be attending has a school orientation session before the beginning of the year, this can be an optimal opportunity to familiarize yourself and your child with the expectations, the teachers, and the other students in the school. Attending allows you to introduce your child to their teacher and meet other parents and children preparing for the new year. You can also ask any questions you have about the rules of the school, facilities, and curriculum so that you can help to prepare your child to the best of your ability.

Visit the School

Taking the time to visit the school your child will be attending is essential to preparing them for their first day, particularly if it is their first time being in school or attending a new one due to a change in grade level. While this may seem simple, visiting can help lay the groundwork for success, even for children attending the same school but moving up a grade. If your child attends their first day and is unsure where to go, this can lead to them feeling uncomfortable and frightened. By taking them to school before the first day, you can show them the classroom they will be in during the upcoming year and how to get there from where they will be dropped off.

In addition, during your school visit, it is important to show them where various bathrooms are around the school and where they will eat their lunch and snacks throughout the day. It is also helpful to show them where the auditorium is and explain the fun activities they may participate in or witness there. Introducing social activities will give your child something to look forward to in the new school year. By visiting the school and showing them where to go and where everything is located, you will instill confidence in them that will help them navigate their first day with minimal issues.

Pay Attention to How They Talk About School

To adequately tailor your approach in preparing your child for school, it is crucial to be mindful of how they talk about the upcoming school year. When talking about going back, does your child seem excited or worried? If you notice them developing fear and anxiety about going to school, intervene quickly to help them form a more positive outlook on their classes.

Keep School Discussions Positive

Children pick up on the tone of different conversations and topics, even if they may only sometimes fully understand the context or reasoning. When discussing school with your child, keep the conversation positive and geared towards communicating that it is an exciting opportunity for them to look forward to rather than be wary of it. If your child voices concerns or displays behavior that alerts you to them feeling uneasy about the end of summer and going to school, sit them down and talk about what they are worried about and why. Having an open line of communication with you will help them process any hesitancies or fears and allow you to help them see the school in a more positive light.

Establish a Schedule

One of the most challenging aspects of transitioning from summer to being in school can be the dramatic shift in schedule. To combat this, implement a fixed routine of waking up and going to sleep that mimics their school schedule a few weeks before the beginning of the year. Read to your child or have them read to you before bed so they are mentally stimulated and get into a routine. This will allow them and their bodies to adjust to a more fixed schedule and give their sleep patterns time to regulate. Your child must get adequate rest. This step will help prepare them to be alert and confident on their first school day.

Children not getting adequate sleep experience difficulty focusing and concentrating and may display challenging behavior. As you draw closer to the beginning of school, adjusting their eating times to align with what they will experience during the school year is also useful.

Help Encourage Bathroom Independence

Going to the bathroom at school can be a jarring experience for a young child compared to being in the comfort of their own home where they are familiar with the surroundings. To help avoid bathroom-related issues, guide your child to develop the skills and knowledge they need to have independence in school. This means explaining the difference between the bathrooms for boys and girls. In addition, it is important to help your child develop the practical skills they will need to navigate independently with ease. This can include teaching them how to open the door to the stall, lock it behind them, pull down their pants, go to the bathroom, properly clean themselves up, pull their pants back up, unlock the door, and wash their hands at the sink. While these may seem simple, giving your child the confidence and practice they need to navigate these steps easily will help reduce worries about returning to school and using an unfamiliar bathroom.

Introduce Your Child to Classmates

Experiencing something new can be much less intimidating when you are with a friend at any age. This holds true for a child as well. Whether attending school for the first time or moving to a new grade level, arranging playdates with other children in their classes in the upcoming year can be helpful. This will help them develop the social skills they’ll need and help them feel more supported and accepted entering the new school year. Instead of walking into a classroom and feeling alone, they will already have a child or children that they know and can spend time with.

Teach Your Child To Monitor Their Belongings

At many schools, you will find jackets, shoes, and backpacks left behind by students who forgot their belongings at the end of recess, lunch, or the school day while walking around the campus. To help your child be prepared for school, it is important to teach them to monitor their belongings and create routines to help them remember their things at the end of each day. One activity you can do with your child to ensure they are prepared with this skill is to practice eating lunch and snack foods out of their lunchbox before school starts. Once they are done, have them pack their container and place it in their backpack. During this time, you will be able to recognize if the lid on their food container is too difficult to open and close or if some of the foods you intended to pack in their lunch could be made easier for them to open on their own. Another activity you can do is to have them practice packing and unpacking their backpack before the school year starts so that they become familiar with the practice.

Play Games With Purpose

In school, your child will likely be asked to do many things they do not do at home, such as raising their hand, waiting to be called on, and then responding only when their name is said. This can be a challenge for students to adapt to. To help practice some of these skills at home, try to turn them into fun games so that your child is learning and enjoying themselves at the same time.

Make Saying Goodbye Fun

As a kid, leaving your parents behind is one of the scariest and saddest parts of going to school for the day. For some children, these emotions can manifest in the form of tantrums, crying, and not wanting to go to school, which is a challenging way to begin the day. To help counteract this, make a special routine for saying goodbye that makes your child feel happy and excited to go to school. This will depend on your child and what works for them, but try a few strategies until you find one that works.

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