First Day Funny

As you talk to your child about getting ready for Kindergarten , please make sure your child understands it is not a “one day deal”. ( like going to Disneyland for most of us ) Emphasize that  Kindergarten is the first day of an incredible ,5 day a week,fun and friend filled adventure. This seems obvious well…not for all kids .Funny story…  One year I had a very sweet girl who was perfect the first day of school, marched right in ,no tears all day , she loved all the activities, and she was  a dream child  . The second day however, she was all tears and she never stopped crying.She had to be peeled away from her mom, she cried so loud and for so long that I had to call for support and have her taken out of class . She got to the point of hysteria, no one could calm her down. What I learned later that day when the child finally got to see her mom and tell her mom why she was so upset , the little girl basically shared that although she liked the first day ,she did want to keep going and her mom never told her she had to keep going  to Kindergarten. In this girl’s  mind, she had gone to school and it was great,”check”  no need to go back again. The little girl felt she needed to be at home with her mom helping to take care of her younger siblings. Think about it, you tell your child  and build it up …” you are going to school on ____ ,” You are going to love it ….” If you don’t phrase it right, it can sound like a one day deal. This is especially true for kids, like this girl who had not been in daycare, or preschool  . Makes sense , you build up other things like… “We are going to Disneyland on ____ . We are going to ___ tomorrow”  You don’t go to Disneyland the next day and the next day , so why would this girl  necessarily know that this school thing was an everyday thing. So… make sure your child knows that Kindergarten  is everyday , a 5 day a week task . Make sure your child doesn’t think they have a choice whether they want to go or take the day off . I even tell my students that it is the law that they must  come to school . No child wants their parent to get a ticket ! The law fact is also good as a scare tactic but I prefer to remind my students how lucky they are that they get to go to school. I tell them the fact that not all kids their age go to school. I prefer to consistently point out the privileges that come with living in the United States. The story has a happy ending and this girl turned out to be an incredible student. She took her love of helping her siblings and became an amazing teacher’s helper.