First Day of School

1. Mental Preparation:
First and foremost, you and your kid both need to be ready for this! First target yourself :) You need to be prepared for your child to be away from you, in the care of others, even if its for a few hours everyday; of course, more so, if you are a stay-at-home mom. You have to understand that he will be learning many more things now, will be meeting more kids now and may in fact become naughtier :) Its all a part of the game, sigh..thats what I had to tell myself. It was not easy, let me tell you. As far as your baby is concerned, its better to start preparing him/her earlier on so that he gets all excited about going to school. We took our little boy along with us when we started our survey of schools (step 2 below). This was a few months before he actually started going to school. We kept telling him how much fun it was going to be and how he would make many friends and play with them. The first day he was very happy and in fact, wasn't ready to come back home after school :)

2. Survey:
Look around, ask around; find out about the good schools in your area. Its great if the school is near your house, for many reasons, but that of course is not the only criteria. The school needs to have a good reputation, especially if its a preparatory school, pre-school if you will, like we have where we live. Such schools are stepping stones to the proper school that your child will be enrolled into when he is around 4-5 years of age. Of course, this concept varies from place to place. Visit the schools, talk to their principals and check out what kind of schooling philosophy is in place, i.e, their ideas about learning, teaching concepts, aids, facilities etc. At this age, your child should be made to feel comfortable in school, as its his first step outside home, without you, especially true for kids with stay-at-home moms. I have selected a good school in the vicinity where learning is done through various kinds of fun activities without putting undue pressure on the kids.

3. Shopping:
Next you make a small list of items you need to purchase and go shopping. Was one of my favorite parts of this whole exercise. Most likely, this would include a school bag, lunch box, water bottle/sipper, crayons and new clothes surely:). As far as clothes are concerned, cotton trousers work best for boys, I feel. They are comfy and easy to wear and remove. Make sure that you check with the teacher in charge about the things you need to put in his/her bag. They might have some tips for you such as sending napkins and a change of clothes/undergarments for smaller kids. Some schools may provide joining kits which include a school bag and some other stuff, so its better to check before you purchase. It may be a good idea to take your kid alongwith you for the shopping in case he/she has his own choice of colours for his bag/bottle etc. And perhaps you could buy him/her a toy or something as a 'first day of school' gift :)

Here is a website that sells all sorts of personalised gifts. Perhaps you'll find something here you like.

Aspire Personalised Gift Store: Babies and Kids

4. Labels:
Make sure you label everything with your kid's name. Things are likely to get mixed up in school, so labeling is required. Sticky labels will do for bags, but for lunch boxes and water bottles, you need to write with permanent markers, as these things would be washed regularly. Though through personal experience, what works better than permanent markers is nailpolish! (i.e. if you dont mind writing with it!)

5. Toilet Training:



Oh now the scariest of them all :) I was really worried about this & am still worried to some extent. Though he has grasped everything pretty quickly, my son took a long time to get toilet-trained. We tried for long, but he got trained only about a month before he had to begin school and it was only at home that he did tell us. He wore diapers whenever we went out somewhere. Its better to keep reminding your child that when in school, he needs to inform his teacher when he wishes to go. Also, check when you are school hunting, what the school policy is about this point. Where we live, some schools do not allow diapers, and some do. Luckily, the school we chose was not rigid about it. I was advised to send him in diapers for the first week, and then without. They were ready to take care of wet accidents, and assured me that he would settle down in a few days. Its working out alright as of now, but I do have to send a change of clothes.

6. Lunch/Snack Box:
No junk food! Its convenient, sure, but is unhealthy and if you give it to him some day, the kid would take it for granted that he would always get to eat such stuff during snack time. Then, when you give something healthy, he might not eat it. Nowadays, teachers stress on healthy snacks too, so that kind of helps.

7. School Work:

Make it a practice to check your child's bag when you take out his lunch box after school. More often than not, there will your child's school work that day (his drawings etc) in it and/or a teacher's note. This is more applicable to pre-school kids I think. It will be very encouraging for the child if you appreciate the work he has done at school and its also a good idea to keep his all work carefully. The set will serve as good memories later :)

8. Talk after school:
After school, do spend time with your child and ask him/her what he/she did at school and listen to a whole list of things he will tell you. Its fun, isnt it, when they just babble on :) Some part of it you may not understand, depending on how old your child is, but its fun nevertheless plus it assures him that you are a part of his school life too.

9. Good word for the teachers:
Time and again, put in a good word for the class teacher while talking to your kid. Tell him or her she is very nice and will take care of him and he should listen to her carefully. It will help the teacher in class.

10. Routine:
Last but not the least, do not forget to set a routine for your kid. He/she should be sleeping early and getting up early. Try to set up the routine days before he starts going to school so that its easier for the child to adjust.

I hope this helps some moms out there. And if you have some experiences or thoughts to share, do write in the guestbook.

I have also shared some thoughts about bringing up children in my blog about relationships. Here it is..

Bringing up children

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