Tips to Prepare Your Child for Preschool
Enrolling your child into preschool is both an exciting and scary time. They are beginning their educational journey and leaving home for the first time. It is stressful for both you and your child. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to putting your child into a daycare program for the first time. Preparing your child for preschool can help make the transition much easier for both of you. Some things that you can do to prepare your child for preschool include:
- Visit the School: Being in an unfamiliar place is scary for children. They find comfort in familiarity. Visit the school with them to help them get familiar with the school and its layout. They will also get the chance to meet some of the staff, which will make their first days in preschool less stressful for them.
- Create a Routine: Practice a new bedtime and wake-up time to get used to their soon-to-be new daily routine. This will help them and you adjust to the change. Try to do things like pick out their outfit for tomorrow the night before and eat breakfast together.
- Play School: Pretend you are in preschool with your child at home. Act out different activities such as nap time, singing, story time, and drawing. This will help your child think of going to school as fun.
- Listen to Your Child: Ask your child how school was and listen to them. They will experience a wide range of emotions. Be sure to reassure them and encourage them to engage with other children and their teachers.
Visit Our Preschool Daycare Center Today!
At Milestones School of Achievement, we have Pre-K programs for the Greensboro, NC area. Enrolling your child in preschool is great for their development. They will learn critical social skills, develop the habits of successful people, and get the physical exercise they crave in a fun environment. Preschool is also helpful for parents as it gives you a safe place to bring your child to while you are working. Contact us today to learn more about our preschool programs!
Preschool is very important for children. Not only does it help jumpstart their education, but it also helps children develop proper social skills that will be necessary for elementary school. Here are some benefits of enrolling your child in a half day preschool program:
Social-emotional development – Something that is focused on during early childhood education is social-emotional learning. The focus of social-emotional learning is teaching children how to be aware of their emotions, so they can control how they manage their emotions. Social-emotional skills are not something that is expected to be mastered by the end of preschool, but rather skills that should be introduced as early as possible. Enrolling a child in a half day preschool program will help a child learn how to manage their emotions because they will be socializing with other children. A few opportunities for social-emotional learning at school include mealtimes and outdoor or indoor playtimes.
Allows them to ease into adjusting to school – A full day of school is a lot for preschool-aged children, especially if they have never been to school before. A half day preschool program allows a child to spend half the day at school and the other half at home with a parent, grandparent, or nanny. This can be very beneficial because it gets the child out of the house and socializing with other children, but also still allows them to go home and get more attention than they get at school which is something every child craves.
More time with parents or grandparents – It has been proven that children benefit from a half day preschool program because it allows them to go home and get more one-on-one bonding time with their parents or legal guardian. Not all children will be going home to a parent after a half-day at school, but those that do are getting proper socialization with other kids and quality time with a parent or legal guardian.
When you’re utilizing infant care services, it’s important to make sure you pack everything your child’s teachers will need for the day. However, giving your child’s teacher a weekly supply of everything will make your life a lot easier. Here are some things you should pack for your infant when they go to daycare:
Diapers & wipes- This one is kind of obvious considering how many diapers every infant goes through in a day. The best way to be ready for anything is to pack your child enough diapers to use 8 to 10 a day. This will theoretically give your infant’s teacher more than enough for the week. Your infant’s teacher will notify you if for any reason your child is getting low on diapers before the end of the week.
In addition to the diapers, always pack one pack of wipes in the weekly bag and keep additional wipes in your child’s day bag. This will give the daycare center workers plenty of wipes for your baby.
Diaper cream or ointment – Not every parent uses diaper cream with every change, but others do. Be sure to inform the daycare center workers if you’d like your baby to have ointment applied after every change.
Pacifier and comfort toy – Not all babies have a pacifier or a stuffed animal they use for comfort, but others have both. It’s important to label these comfort items before dropping your child off at their daycare center, so that they can be returned to your child if lost.
Bedding – Some daycare centers want your child to bring blankets and sheets, while others just want you to bring blankets. Ask your baby’s teacher what your baby will need and be sure to pack an extra set of bedding just in case your baby pees out of their diaper.
All the extra outfits & bibs – Pack three separate outfits with socks for your baby so that if an accident occurs, they have a clean set of clothes to be changed into. Although your child won’t likely have three accidents in a day, it’s good to have a few extra outfits packed and sent with your child for the week. For the bibs, the easiest way to do it is to buy a set to have your child’s teacher keep at the daycare center. This will alleviate any stress of trying to keep bringing them back and forth between home and daycare.
Medicine – All infant care services have rules about what medications can be sent with your child to daycare. Talk with your child’s teacher before sending medication. After the medicine is approved, put all medication and a thermometer in a bag and label it with your child’s name.
Childcare costs seem to be on the rise, but there are many benefits to enrolling your child in daycare. At Milestones School of Achievement, we have a nursery school, a pre-K program, and after-school care. Here are some benefits of our childcare services:
A community for you and your child – Our daycare center is the perfect place for your child to meet other children their age and for you to connect with other parents. It’s important for your child to meet other adults that they know well and trust. This will help mitigate the first day of kindergarten meltdowns that happen with most children.
Regular routine – We have a daily routine that is followed for toddlers and preschoolers at our daycare center. The routine we have set for each day helps the child because they know what to expect while they are at school. A routine also helps prepare children for kindergarten, which has a daily schedule as well.
Social-emotional development – The focus of early childhood education is social-emotional development. We create a safe space for children to learn how to regulate and talk through their emotions. We know how important it is for a child to learn to work through their own emotions and recognize the emotions of others.
Smoother transition to kindergarten – Children who don’t go to preschool will have a harder time going to kindergarten, which is why we highly recommend enrolling your child in our preschool program. Preschool will help your child be prepared for kindergarten because we teach the same curriculum. We do calendar time, counting, reciting the alphabet, and other foundational skills like letter and number recognition.
Contact Milestones School of Achievement for more information about our childcare services. We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Our daycare center is accessible to residents in and around the Greensboro, NC area.