The process of starting school is a very important process for our children in nursery, kindergarten and primary school and they need more support. For this reason, having a short orientation period before starting school is a process that is very beneficial for the children of this period and should not be neglected. This period may last 1-2 weeks. After deciding on the nursery, kindergarten or primary school our child will attend, we should take him to school and show him around, if possible. In fact, if we have photos or brochures that we can take beforehand, we can take them with us and show them to attract their attention and arouse their curiosity. “Oh look, there is such a garden in this school. Children were playing very fun games there. Come on, let's go there with you and have a look. What do you say ? Phrases that arouse excitement and curiosity, such as “, can attract our child's attention and create enthusiasm. If possible, if the school we have chosen is visited and visited with the parents at a suitable time and if they play games together in the garden or indoors, the image of the school as a safe and fun place will be supported. For nurseries and kindergartens, it would be beneficial to stay at school frequently and for short periods during a part of the orientation process before school starts, such as attending only play time. The duration of the child's stay at school during the orientation period should also be increased gradually, and it will be comforting for the child to inform him about how long he will stay at school and when his parents will come to pick him up. During this process, you may encounter problems such as crying, not wanting to go to school, refusing to eat, and wetting the bed in younger age groups. In such situations, it is very important that we share with our child the situation that he is worried about and support him by being patient. If we approach his anxious situation with more concern, we will increase his anxiety. We must understand his anxiety and support him so that he can cope. It will be comforting if we share our own experiences with him in a way he can understand. For example . “I was also very excited when I started primary school. "I couldn't get used to it for a few days, but then I discovered that school is a fun place." Our sentences that contain and affirm our own experiences, such as, allow us to share our own feelings with it. It can encourage you. If we still have difficulty coping with these, it would be useful to get expert support. Because we must not forget that, as parents, we cannot be everything to our child.
For our children who have just started the nursery and kindergarten period, a short school game that we can play with them at home can also be beneficial during the adaptation process. This game, which we can create at home using a table, chair and toys, can be useful in terms of practicing what is done at school and adopting school rules. However, it should not be forgotten that younger age groups need to play undirected games rather than games with rules and to be able to express their own emotions. Excessive and unnecessary rules should be avoided and the duration of games with rules should be kept shorter. More self-expression should be supported.
For our children starting primary school, it would be beneficial to visit the school they will attend beforehand and play games in the garden. It may be useful to give information about what to do at school and to share our own school experiences from time to time. We can say that we will wait for him in the garden again on the first day of school, but that is just for this day.
After picking up our children from school, we should definitely state that we are curious about what is happening at school and ask creative questions that will encourage him to tell what he did at school, what he experienced and how he felt. . “How was school today?” The answer to the question can only be good or bad and may not allow further conversation. Therefore, we must show our interest and interest by asking more creative questions. In addition, starting to ask questions about his/her feelings can give the message that we actually care about his/her feelings the most. We are certainly curious about what kind of activities he does at school, but essentially allowing him to express the things that make him happy, angry and sad will increase his sharing with us. For example, what made you happiest at school today? Or was there something that made you angry today? Questions such as these that first encourage the child to express his feelings and then continue the conversation in which he can explain what he has experienced and what he has done will be more useful. Of course, it is also convenient to bombard the child with questions as soon as you pick him up from school. It can be distressing and cause the child to say "oh, that's enough." It would be more fun if this conversation turned into a conversation rather than a question and answer session. For this, we should tell him how our day was and let him ask us questions. “I felt very happy today too. We can also give examples such as “I experienced something like this” or funny or tiring moments we experienced. We can model how we deal with a stressful situation by expressing it. Of course, not forgetting that from time to time, children can personally witness the way we deal with these stressful situations. Because no matter what we say, his own observations have a completely different value and importance.
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