Getting Ready for School
What great excitement is in the air as you introduce your daughter to the most important childhood career there is — being a student. This career may be longer than that of grown-up people. Your daughter may go to school for twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or even twenty or more years, depending on what graduate program she may eventually choose.
For now, you want her to have the best possible start to school. That begins with building her enthusiasm. Tell her about the thrilling time that is ahead. Mention the many new things she will learn and the many new children she will meet. Long before school starts, take her on a visit to “her” school.
You want your little daughter to have a “homey” feeling about her school. So, go by the office and let her meet the secretary, the assistant principal, and the principal, the counselor, and the librarian. That process can also be accomplished during the school's Open House, but then there will be swarms of parents and kids, and the sheer size of the building can be alarming.
Fact
Children spend seven or eight hours a day at school. After their home, the school building, grounds, and staff are their most important environment. After discounting all the hours children spend sleeping and after adding the time they spend on homework and class projects, it is easy to see how important school is to a child.
Ease School Anxiety
Depending on your girl's wishes, let her visit her future school complex at a quiet time. Let her amble along the halls, count the classroom doors, maybe even peek into the cafeteria. Now that talk time you have put in place will come in handy. At your next session, ask your girl what she wants to know about first grade. Tell her what fun lessons she will experience. Next time you swing by the school, let her lead you. Does she remember where the bathrooms and the library are?
Alert
Never pop into a classroom unannounced. Always communicate with the teacher before you come to visit. Even though your girl's school may loudly proclaim its open-door policy, no teacher wants to be interrupted during work.
Long before the first bell rings, try to erase whatever little anxious thoughts she has. During the week before school starts, have her meet her new teacher — after e-mailing first to find out what time is best.
While getting your daughter acclimated to her school before the opening day, check on her listening and sharing skills. Most important, tell her that her teacher is similar to her parent. At home the motto is “do what Mom or Dad tells you.” At school, it is “do what the teacher tells you.”
Reap School Riches
Just imagine how much this new chapter in your little daughter's life will enrich your household. Every day she will come home excited about a new skill, fact, or idea. Before long, she will inform you about things you have forgotten or never knew. Your child's drive to learn so much will inspire you as well. You may start taking a new class.
According to columnist Joyce Maynard, “It is not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we want to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.”
You are showing your little girl that you are going after your top goal. Every day as you raise her with thoughtfulness, you are indeed getting closer to your top goal — that of being the finest mom or dad you can be.
