Gearing up for First day of School

The day you first held your little one, the first time he smiled at you, those first steps, first tears, first words, first bike ride... You would have experienced countless firsts with your child so far. Before you knew it, your kid is just few days away from a very important milestone - his first day of school. 

If your kid is starting kindergarten this academic year, I totally feel you. I was in the same state of mind, exactly an year ago. After tending to my son for more than 3 years, that too as a stay at home mom, he is very attached to me. I was with him literally 24 x 7, except for those very few minutes I sneak into the washroom. The thought of how he would survive those 7 hours of school without me, haunted me for days. Next his preparedness to face the whole new world (without us) was dreadful. I had infinite questions/ doubts in my head. It is quite natural if you have an endless loop going on in your head.

In this post, I sum up my experience of preparing my child and most importantly ourselves for First Day of School (FDS), no I would call it the First Day of Separation!!

Train your child to be independent and safe: First and foremost is using the washroom. Even after multiple attempts, my kid wasn't just ready to take a dump on his own. But surprising us, just few days before his FDS, he did it all by himself. I have written a detailed article on how we potty trained him and general tips which might work for you. You can read it here.

Next was, making him dress on own. Due to the fluctuating and cold weather here in Canada, this was indeed tricky, as kids need to dress in accordance to the climate. During rain, they need their rain coats and boots, while winters, they would need to have their snow jackets, pants, snow boots, mittens, caps, scarves etc. So expectation from the school was, my 4 year old has to dress up completely (head to toe) all by himself. They should be comfortable to change into fresh dress in case of any messy accidents at school. I understand this is a huge ask from a 4 year old, but kids learn very quick. To start with, we taught him wearing his socks through a simple role play and went on managing the rest. It wasn't easy. But after few attempts and melt downs, he mastered dressing up and now he doesn't even let us assist. 

Next is handling their belongings. Most of the kids are generally possessive and get upset if they lose their favourite items. They are still those little beings vulnerable to take care of their belongings. It is quite natural for the kids to lose their belongings and at the same time it is tough for anyone to trace it amongst the whole bunch. Best way is to label everything that you send with them, like their school bag, lunch bag, lunch and snack boxes, water bottles, caps, jackets, mittens, shoes, stationery and if possible dresses too. 

You can use permanent markers to write their name or just use stickers to label. Even personalized adhesive labels are available online. Bags, jackets and lunch boxes comes with a placeholder to write kids names making it easy for us. Despite all our best efforts, children will still lose one or two of their belongings. Many a times, we adults couldn't manage ours. Isn't it too much to expect from those little ones? Jokes apart, trust me, they will learn in due course.

Most importantly, as parents, we have to train kids to stay safe and reach out for help in case of any trouble. Using role play demonstrate safe behaviours, good and bad touch and when to seek help. 

How to dress for school: Here, most of the school boards leave the responsibility for students dress to students and their parents/ guardians, while few school boards have a mandatory dress code (uniform). Since the weather is unstable, I mandatorily have light jackets all round the year. Of course, dresses and accessories change according to the weather. Other aspect we need to be mindful is, kids outgrow their wardrobe quickly. So I keep a tab on his outfits and change them time-to-time, while I donate the good ones and discard the rest.

 

What food to pack: If your child is a picky eater or someone who doesn't eat on own like mine, it is time for us to experiment. I have an article exclusively on how I handle my kid's lunch box. You may read it here. I upload kid's lunch and snack ideas on my youtube channel. Do take a look for some ideas. Also check for any food restrictions by the school board. In our case, schools are nut-free. So sending nuts or nut butters is a big No-No.

When it comes to packing their lunch or snacks, use easy to open boxes as most of the kids at this stage struggle opening certain type of containers/ bottles. Though I personally do not prefer plastic, I decided not to give him stainless steel or glass containers this early, to avoid any accidents. Instead I use BPA-free lunch boxes by Sistema and Bentgo. You can find my review on these items on my youtube handle. 

Also at least from a week before FDS, make your kid practice unaided using the water bottle, snack and lunch boxes that you intend to send to school, so that it doesn't come as a surprise to him on his first day and can be independent while eating. As days progress, you and your child will find out what works well for you both, whether it is the box, water bottle or food. 

What to pack in back pack: Our regional school board doesn't expect KG children to bring any supplies. All that they need is a back pack spacious enough to carry their lunch bag, water bottle, jacket and a folder. I have seen many KG kids bring way too big or small backpacks. So ensure the bag is just big enough to house these items. Few school boards might ask you to send stationery, books, sanitizers, wipes, sandwich bags etc. But generally this would be a one time affair, where you will hand over the bulk of supplies on their first day of school to the Teachers.

My suggestion is to start early and have a list to avoid last minute rush. Ironically, any amount of preparation doesn't warrant us few misses. That's absolutely OK. We are just beginners like our kids. We all will evolve in the process. Enjoy this very special moment in your child's life and make lot of wonderful memories!!

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