A few months ago we decided to send our 3 yr old to pre-school. After researching and looking at multiple options we finally decided. We had the opportunity to meet with the teachers & observe the classroom before we made the final decision to enroll. I thought this would be the hard part of the whole ordeal, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. When sending your toddler to pre-school, you need to get prepared.
As I discovered and you will too when you send your child to preschool, dropping them off is only the first of many tough days to come. If your child is like mine they have never been left with anyone that wasn’t an immediate family member. We began by including him in picking the school and all the tours. Once we decided on the school we made sure he met the teachers & they even let him go in and play for an hour while we spoke to the director. After enrolling we discussed with him everything that would happen when he went to school. He seemed ready and excited to go, which was great because I think at this point we were having a tougher time with it than he was.
Here’s where it began to get tough – drop off day 1! We woke up that day, made breakfast and again talked him through the events of the day. He was very excited and ready to go play at school with the other children. However once we arrived and he realized that we would not be staying with him it quickly became a different story. He cried and screamed “I want to go with you” over and over again. This was the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my life. I have been sick, injured, upset & angry but nothing can compare to your child screaming your name and begging to go with you while you walk away. That being said it had to be done, if you don’t get your child into pre-school to prepare for kindergarten they will start out behind & struggle to catch up to all the other children. This is true not only academically but socially. We were lucky though, he had a great teacher that held him and comforted him until he was ready to go play with the other children. After a few days he adjusted properly and was genuinely excited about going to school!
So in the end what I thought would be the hardest part – picking the right place & simply going to school ended up being the easiest. Dropping him off was …………. make sure you prepare yourself & them incase they do!
Have your children been enrolled in pre-school? How did you prepare yourself and them?
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