And just like that, Kaiden is off for his first day of Junior Kindergarten.
Where did the past four years go? I’m ready but not ready. Andrew was a bit of a mess at the kindergarten drop-off while I managed to hold myself together.
In the lead-up to school, people would ask Kaiden if he was excited. Some days he’d say yes, others he’d say no. He just had really no idea what was coming as he never went to daycare.
Some things we did to initiate Kaiden’s transition were:
We walked to school in the mornings and got into the routine of getting ready for school. Making sure we were getting dressed and eating breakfast first thing. Going to the bathroom. Packing our backpack. Andrew and I even took him around the outside of the school so he knew what he could expect.
I got him to open up his lunch box and things he might have trouble with at school. He’s been using a backpack for the past two years so he’s pretty good with opening and closing that.
Kaiden also decided that we were going to play “teacher” as well. He got me to be the teacher and pretend to go to school. This allowed me to tell him things that the teacher would expect from him. Things like raising his hand to go to the bathroom.
Some things to help calm me down were:
I found that the lead-up to school was the most anxiety-inducing for me. I didn’t get any information about the teacher/first-day protocols until a few days before school started. As a stay-at-home-mom who has never dealt with school-setting COVID protocols, or just school settings in general. I kept thinking that I’d missed a memo somewhere.
I didn’t find out his teacher/classroom information until the Friday before school started. Talking with other mom friends that had been through it with daycare definitely helped. They helped give advice on things that would be needed. Things like masks, extra clothing, hand sanitizer, and what should all be labeled (everything).
We didn’t go up North because Kaiden started school on the Tuesday immediately after the long weekend. I was too anxious about having everything ready to think about the extra effort that’s required after a weekend away.
Using mountains of lists, I wrote out everything so I wouldn’t miss anything. I showed Kaiden where everything was in his backpack for the next morning.
And then we all went to bed early so we were fresh for the long day ahead of us.
So how did the first day of kindergarten go?
Fortunately, everything went so well.
Kaiden had a couple of meltdowns at home. He didn’t want to go, he didn’t want to get dressed, and he didn’t want to leave the house. We walked to school with his friend who lives next door so that definitely helped. He saw that his friend was fine with going to school, so he was fine.
He was a little bit overwhelmed by the number of people that were there waiting to get in, but he gave me a big hug and no fuss to go in. I told him I’d be waiting for him after school and to have a great day.
And luckily, the rest of the week went exactly the same way. No meltdowns, and just walked right into the playground to wait for the day to begin.
I still have a little bit of anxiety. I’m worrying about things like him making friends, and hoping he’s not pushing kids around. But I’m sure these are worries that I’ll have for the next 18 years while they’re in school and under my roof.
Parent woes, right?
Next week I send Eli off to his first morning of daycare. Fingers crossed he does just as well!
How was your kid’s first day of school?
J x
