Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Tips for a Confident First Day for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

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Tips for a Confident First Day for Preschoolers and Kindergartners · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Today I have a special guest, Holly Dabella McCarthy.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: She's a dedicated educator, an accomplished author, and a passionate advocate for child development and education.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: She's a former special education teacher, a school administrator, and university professor.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Holly now writes full-time and she creates resources supporting parents and educators.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Her Daily Duck and Friends series features three award-winning children's picture books, and it highlights the themes of kindness, teamwork, and environmental awareness.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And these books are so much fun.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: I had the privilege of reading them.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really encourage you for your children to get these.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And she has a book for parents, Parenting with a Teacher's Toolbox.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And she offers practical parenting strategies.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And she has a blog called bookchatterchatterpress.com and she shares insights and best practices to help parents prepare their children for preschool, kindergarten, and beyond.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: And today Holly's going to share an interesting topic with us that we had not covered tips for a confident first day for preschoolers and kindergartners.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome, Holly.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me, Sandra.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we're interested to hear what you have to say since you're the expert in this area.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today I thought I'd share from a teacher's perspective what non-academic school ready skills a teacher hopes young children would enter with.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So kids thrive with routine, and being successful with school routines starts at home.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, how can parents prepare their children for success?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Starts in the home.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: In the days leading up to school, it's important for parents to establish daily routines.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So slowly wean children off that summer schedule and wean them into what their bedroom, bedtime, lunch, and snack times will be at school.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then practice opening lunch boxes, those brand new shiny lunch boxes.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Kids will be expected to open them all by themselves.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Practice opening containers independently.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Can they open that fruit all by themselves and take that hard plastic cover off?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Can they push the straw into the juice box all by themselves?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: One fun activity you might consider is to create a grocery list of healthy snacks together with your child and then try the snacks out before school starts, preferably around the time that snack time will happen at school.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because then your child will become more proficient with opening their own snacks, cleaning up after themselves, all of those skills that teachers expect.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And teachers already have their schedules.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So feel free to reach out and find out what time lunch time is and what time snack time is.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then mirror those times at home.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: That would be one piece of advice.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the topic of behavior, I would suggest practicing expected school behaviors like waiting, good listening, lining up prior to the beginning of school.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And again, parents can familiarize themselves with school and classroom rules by reaching out to the school or the teacher.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So just simple skills like listening when someone is speaking, paying attention, and listening when the teacher is speaking, following directions quickly, raising your hand to speak, respecting yourself, respecting others and the school.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And teachers inevitably have on their wall be safe, be kind, be honest.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So just to kind of review those expected school behaviors beforehand might be helpful.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then a fun activity I always enjoyed with my own kids and enjoy with any kids that will play with me today is play school.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Take turns being the teacher and being the student.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that way you can model expected school behaviors.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then one more fun idea that will go a long way when keeping school anxiety at bay and helping kids to feel just ready for that first day of school.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a countdown to school calendar.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So use a calendar to count down the days to the first day of school.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: This not only helps young children understand the concept of time, but each night the child can color off or check off or put a sticker on the day they just had.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then each morning they can count how many days are left until the first day of school.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So having that visual I find really helps young children.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Those are some amazing tips.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Did I interrupt you?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: It brought back some memories because I remember now as a child, I played school all the time.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to play school.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's why I grew up to be a teacher.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably one of the reasons because you felt very confident teaching your little stuffed animals and your dolls and your, you know, uh teddy bears or whatever.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it really does build um tremendous skills.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if they get into this play routine, um, they're going to be more um be more confident and just um aware of school expectations.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all the tips you gave are just so so great, such great practical tips because you're right, it helps them get used to it.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And probably parents should have started earlier in the summer if I had just had you on earlier, but these are things they could still do at do at home, even if their child is going back to school soon.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's the tips I I just suggested will uh give kind of a framework to, oh, let me check in and and can my child open up their own snack?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh can can they um count down even during the weekend, like how many, how many or a long weekend, how many days until I start school again?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then of course those routines are very important.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if their summer bedtime is nine o'clock, um, we want to start weaning them down to when um they will need to get up on a school morning, whether it be 7, 7:30, or 8, um, and so that they are uh fresh and had a good night's sleep and ready for that school routine.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so thank you for being with us.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And um make sure you go visit Holly's uh website because she has so much great information for parents and check out her three book series, which kids will absolutely love, and parents too.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks, Holly, for being with us.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Sandra.