Prepare your child for nursery school

A preschool is very different from a day care centre. Don’t make the mistake of confusing between the two. A preschool teaches different skills to your child and prepares him for kindergarten and elementary school. A day care centre on the other hand takes care of the child while the parents are away. Both of them may provide meals as some preschools have mid day meal schemes. The other schools expect the child to bring Tiffin from home. Your child’s entry into preschool can be daunting experience for your child and a source of anxiety for you too. You may worry whether your child will adjust to the changed environment or not. You won’t need to worry if you prepare your child with some activities that ensure that your child’s transition to preschool is smooth. Please remember to keep all learning activity playful. Make sure entering a preschool doesn’t become a chore for your child. Entering play school should appear like a fun activity to your child. He should be told that there will be many fun activities in the preschool like making new friends of his age, learning new skills like art and other social skills. Get the details of the preschool you are sending your child to. Do they have many play activities? What is their medium of instruction? Have a detailed conversation with your child’s teacher.

Before you send your child to preschool, plan some social activities where your child is exposed, to other children of his age, if your child has not been exposed to children his age before, this is the time to introduce the concept of doing things together and being cooperative. Use role play to familiarize your child to preschool. Take turns playing the teacher and the parent to make him totally comfortable with the concept of playschool.

Make sure you introduce the concept of preschool gently so that your child feels he is in a familiar environment when he goes to preschool. Your child will feel comfortable because you have gently introduced the concept of preschool to him. Act out all the activities your child will do at preschool like saying bye to parents, singing songs, reading stories, playing with other children and also taking naps. Make all these activities full of fun so that your child takes part in everything enthusiastically. Reassure your child that his playschool is going to be fun and he will learn many new things at his preschool.

Play with your child and discuss play school with him before sending him to preschool. Introduce the idea that preschool will teach him many new and interesting things. Act out all the activities your child will do before leaving for school like taking off her coat wearing shoes and keeping them. Race your child to wearing shoes and say, “let’s see who wears shoes faster and reward your child when he does as expected.

If your child has some kind of apprehensions about the new place he is going to, reassure him and tell him it is normal to have anxiety about visiting a new place. Make sure that your child is completely at ease with the new phase that he is going to begin in his life.