Coping With Seperation Anxiety

One of the most difficult things for parents and children new to starting a school is coping with the separation anxiety. Seeing your child cry when he or she realizes you are leaving can be very emotional and difficult. However take comfort in knowing that your child's reactions as well as your own is very normal, hopefully this can make the process easier. Here are some tips you can take to hopefully make the transition a bit smoother for them as well as yourself.:
Familiarity: Face day and Open House are great opportunities for your child to adjust to his/her new environment and get to know their teachers and classmates. Visit the school several times before and talk to your child about what he/she will expect once they start.
Be Prepared: Recognize that your child may have may have difficulties separating. Young children often gauge situations by how adults respond to them. Therefore, try not to make your concerns too evident to your child. On the other hand, do not ignore or diminish your child's concerns. For example, it is okay to tell your child, "I know you are sad when mommy leaves, but I think of you all day and will be back to get you after you nap." Remember, too that staff members at Kingswood have a lot of experience with separation issues, and are there to help you and your child work through the transition. Feel free to call as many times as you like to check up during the day.
Be consistent: Having a routine during the first few weeks is essential. Young children cannot tell time or even recall day-today events, their sense of security comes from predictable routines. Waking up in the morning, leaving the house, saying your goodbyes in the same way each day, and picking up your child at the same of the day will provide much needed consistency. Sometimes having special rituals during drop-off and pick-up times can be helpful. After a time your child will learn that you will come back when you day you will. AS important, a foundation of trust is established between you and your child, one that will make future transitions easier.

All I need to Know...

As we get ready to welcome in a new school year, I know that some parents might feel nervous, specially for those little ones that are starting school for the first time. Recently I ran into an excerpt on a wonderful book by Robert Fulghum: The only thing I ever really needed to know I learned in Kindergarten. I am sure you are familiar with it, and I thought it would be timely to share it with you now. Enjoy!

Share everything.

Play Fair.

Don't hit people.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours

Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out in the world watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we aer all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the seed in the Styrofoam cup-they all die, so do we.

And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned- the biggest word of all- LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all -the whole world- would have cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and clean up there own mess. And it is true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.