Are you and your toddler school-ready?

~ Choosing your child’s school is probably one of the most strategic and big decisions you take as parents. Here is how you can make the transition easy for you and your toddler ~ By First Moms Club - An Online Community for Indian Moms Preschool. This one word can evoke such mixed emotions. As a mother, we both look forward to and get anxiety attacks thinking of our child’s first day at school. Will he cry? Will she eat? Will she play? Will he settle down? And what about me, the mother? Will I cry? I most definitely will, both happy and sad tears. Choosing our child’s school is probably one of the most strategic and big decision we take as parents. Our child’s school is their first interaction with the outside world. We want them to feel safe, loved and evolve into better citizens of the world. It ideally should be home away from home with lots of learning. There are many options available even for a preschool. We have play way method and Montessori. Then there is Waldorf methodology. And later we have to choose between CBSE, State board, IB etc. As mothers we do enough research, talk to other moms, read expert opinions and have our own checklists. But let’s talk about how we can make our little ones and ourselves more prepared for the first day at school.  Positive Correlation When your child is very young, and you are talking to them about school. Make sure you use positive words. Tell them how a school is an exciting place where they will make new friends, have lots of toys, and teachers who would love them. Your child is absorbing everything and will start making a positive connection with the term “School”. Whatever you do don’t let anyone use school or teacher as a threat to complete a task. That would instil unnecessary fear into the child. Power of Decision Small children can feel so powerless. It helps to let make decisions in their daily routine. Rather than picking out their clothes, let them make a choice between a red t-shirt and yellow. Let them pick between two snacks, two shoes etc. This will keep your daily chores struggle to minimum and diffuse few tantrums too. Also when it is time to leave a place, you can ask them would you like to leave now or after this round. This sets a limit but also gives them a choice. This power of freedom makes a toddler feel in control of their life and will make the transition to school easier too. Involving them School supplies are so exciting! Involve your child in all the decisions. Get them to the stationery store, let them watch how their ID cards are laminated. Every little thing will lead to them looking forward to going to school. Independence As the school going age can be anything between 18 months to above 2, make sure your child has age-appropriate independence. Making them wear shoes which are easier for them to remove, shorts which they don’t need assistance for, packing food in tiffin they can eat on their own, etc. can help them gain more independence. Detachment This one probably is the toughest for the mothers, isn’t it? We want our children to be independent of us but the moment they are ready to walk away we also suffer from separation anxiety as much as the child. So how to make this easier? Make sure even before your child is ready for school, he/she is playing for a few minutes every day on their own. Let them have a comfortable corner in the house where they can pick a toy, or listen to music, or just jump around even if it is for a few minutes. Or let them have a few free minutes in the park where you are not hovering over them. This would eventually prepare them for a few hours of preschool without their mommy. So mommies, follow these steps and watch as your little caterpillar emerges out of their cocoon and gets ready to fly away into the big world.

This article is part of the just-launched season 3 of 9 Months, a popular web series from Firstpost, where First Mom Club is the official Community Partner. This is a partnered post.