Helping Your Child Take Well To Preschool

Sending your child off to preschool for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience. It’s likely that both you and your child are feeling separation anxiety and that your kid would rather continue to stay in the predictable, secure cocoon of warmth and love you provide at home. Yet, in order to learn, grow, develop and explore, it is important that your child takes a step out of home and learns to be on their own. Preschool is the first step that a child takes into the big and possibly overwhelming world out there. You can help make this transition comfortable and joyful by keeping a few things in mind.

Helping your child adjust to preschool

·         Assure them that you’ll be back to pick them up

One of the biggest fears of a child who’s just started attending preschool is that their parents won’t be back to get them or that they may even disappear off the face of Earth! It can be hard for a child as young as two to four years of age to feel secure on their own and learn to trust complete strangers.

You can help quell your child’s concerns by saying something reassuring at the time of dropping them off at preschool, such as, “I will come back to pick you up at 3, like I always do” or “I will be right here when you step out of class at 3”.

·         Invite your child’s peers over to a playdate

Helping your child bond with other children at the preschool can make your child look forward to going to preschool. You can ask your kid if there’s any particular child they like and would like to invite for a playdate. You may also invite your child’s friend and his/her parents to dinner to facilitate bonding between your child and their newfound friend.

·         Help your child feel secure

When at home, give plenty of time to your child to listen to how their day went. Snuggle and embrace your child often so that they feel emotionally secure and connected to you. An emotionally stable environment at home tends to positively affect a child’s temperament and self-esteem.

Choosing a good preschool for your child can help provide them with an environment that is conducive to their growth and development. Williamsburg Northside Preschool in Brooklyn, New York, is known to take a multi-sensory approach to meet the varying needs of each child. 

Williamsburg Northside Preschool encourages children to engage with and express themselves through a variety of media, including paint, clay, collage, natural & recycled materials, music and dance.

Play is the work of the child

Have you ever observed a toddler engrossed in play? The child can be seen to display exceptional motivation, concentration and perseverance. What may seem to some as time-biding activities are, in fact, a child’s inner scientist at work exploring the world around them.

A child learns best through playing that is not entirely unstructured but combined with a certain amount of informed guidance and structure. Guided playtime can open up boundless avenues for young children, such as preschoolers, to learn key social, emotional, cognitive and pre-academic skills.

What follows is a list of the several ways in which different forms of play can benefit a preschooler.

·  Exploring nature

Children are naturally curious about the world around them. Scientific research shows that children who spend time exploring nature are more focused and healthier.

As an example, Williamsburg Northside Preschool in Brooklyn, New York, lays emphasis on letting children engage with and express themselves through natural materials such as rocks, sticks, pinecones and cotton wool. The range of natural materials that can be used is unlimited and offers children the opportunity to discover and create.

·  Music and dance

Music and dance offer children the opportunity for sensory explorations and for expressing themselves. It also helps children have joyous and meaningful social interactions with their peers and adults.

·  Dramatic play

Dramatic play is yet another play way teaching method that hones preschoolers’ ability to symbolize their experiences, express themselves, develop social skills and modulate their emotions.

The Williamsburg Northside Preschool mentioned above is also known to utilize dramatic play, for instance. Dramatic play is utilized at the school as a means for the child to develop their linguistic skills, comprehension abilities, cooperativeness and empathy.

·  Pretend play

The importance of pretend play in a child’s life cannot be overstated. Pretend play is the mark of a child’s budding ability to hold two versions of reality in their mind at one time. Pretend play has been shown to be an important precursor to developing ‘theory of mind’ or the understanding that other people have individualistic thoughts and feelings responsible for motivating their behaviors.