The beginning of the school year can be a time filled with excitement, anticipation and feelings of nervousness and worry. All feelings that arise during this transitional time are appropriate and can be both validated and channeled to ensure a successful transition to school.
Talking about starting school is a bit of a balancing act. While preparing your child accordingly is necessary and helpful, talking about it too much can unintentionally feed into feelings of worry. Try not to spend too much time talking about school starting as the summer comes to a close, as the anticipation of the transition can increase for children.
Your child can feed off of your energy: be aware of how you are feeling about your child(ren) returning to school. Children can pick up on, and mirror your feelings. Try and lead with confidence when discussing the start of the school year.
When talking about school, focus on all the things that they can look forward to upon returning.
In the immediate days leading up to school, provide your child with fact based information about what to expect (teachers name, room number, peers in class). It may also be helpful to let the child know who some of their point people can/ may be in the building.
When your child talks about their return to school different feelings may come up. As much as possible, try to validate and not dismiss the feeling. Examples of validating statements include:
Set up a routine for school days that is predictable and provides space for everyone's needs. For example, your child may want five minutes of down time in the morning. Make sure to build that into the routine so that things do not feel rushed!
As school starts, your child may be seeking control, as they are transitioning into an environment that naturally has a lot of extrinsic expectations. Finding ways to help them feel in control may be helpful (one way this can be done easily is by giving choices).
For Kindergarten Students:
For younger children, social stories may be helpful in preparing them for the start of school. Some recommended social stories include:
For children who are having a hard time separating at drop off, the book The Invisible String by Patrice Karst can be very helpful.
A quick and confident goodbye at drop off will best set your child up for the day. Lingering can subconsciously communicate to your child that you are worried and therefore, that they should be worried. A big smile, a hug and an excited "see you after school" is recommended.