Is your little one starting Kindergarten this year? Are you more nervous than he/she? I’m here to tell you don’t freak, everything will be fine, your child will love it, so will you. Here are my top tips for you and your little one to help ease.

• Academics – I think this is probably the #1 stress for parents. Don’t stress if your child can’t write her name, doesn’t know how to spell any words yet, can’t count to 100. A lot of kids can’t at the beginning and that’s what kindergarten is for, learning all that stuff and the teacher will let you know if they need any extra help in a subject. A few things you can help prepare them but remember to make it fun or they most likely won’t be interested; practice colors(brown trees, water blue), practice counting(at the grocery store count the apples you put into the bag), practice writing letters but don’t force it.
• Social – I think this is the #1 thing you can do to prepare them. Get them out playing with other kids, practice waiting turns, practice lining up, practice doing structured activities. Visit a libraries story time would be great practice.
• Tired – Unless your kid still takes a nap before 2pm, you will be amazed how much energy they still have even though they sit through a 6 hour school day.
• If possible let them pick out their lunch box and backpack!
• Go play on the schools playground a couple times before school starts.
• When packing the lunch box, remember to pack easy to open stuff that your child can open themselves, the lunch helpers will be there to help though.
• Repeat to your child “the teachers, bus drivers, staff really like kids, that’s why they work at the school and are there to help so don’t be afraid to talk to them”.
• If they are riding the bus, they will most likely be the first ones on the bus and the driver has them sit in the front. They wear a bus tag to make it easier to find and make sure they are on the correct bus.

A few tips to make the first week(or couple weeks) go smoothly!

• Get on the going to bed early, getting up early routine a couple weeks before school starts. That way their bodies get used to getting up early and eating breakfast early.
• Set clothes out the night before, pack lunch the night before, set out shoes and backpack next to the door the night before.
• They will most likely have a snack at school during the day but make sure you pack a healthy filling lunch and they eat a healthy filling breakfast, because it is a long day.

Hope that helps some! They will be fine and enjoy it, they might even tell you you can leave and don’t need to walk them into class, like mine did ;(