This week, Joyful Garden welcomes Beckett, Catalina, Edie, and Ellis, our brand-new members! I can’t wait to greet all our members, new and old, after our lengthy break.
Here are my thoughts on transitioning smoothly into the school year.
Lots of rest. Well-rested children are less anxious about transitions, and more able to adapt to the new setting and routines at Community. If your child is not sleepy when you decide it is bed-time, try an earlier time. Sometimes, we are just missing the open window for sleep!
Ample time. Get up early enough that you and kiddo do not have to rush and can enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Get started with tooth-brushing, shoe-finding, and other “out-the-door” routines five or ten minutes earlier than you think is necessary. Use these last moments at home to really focus on the tasks you are doing together, and to connect with your child.
Protein for breakfast. Protein will fuel your child through a morning that can seem very long, until they get to crack open those beautiful, new lunch boxes/tins. If your child dislikes eggs and other traditional high-protein breakfast items, try serving them a bit of last nights leftover supper, some cold cuts, cheese sticks...
Pause for a moment. When you arrive at Community, take a moment to come into the playground with your child, set his or her bag down on the wooden steps, engage in some play. They want to share their experience with you!
Goodbye routine. You have thought about a goodbye routine--that phrase you will use to let your child know that you are going to go now, then the final thing done together (sing a short verse of a song, gate kiss...). Then you leave. If your child is expressing strong emotions, it is due to the distress of the transition--that moment when you are neither here nor gone, but going. When you linger, you prolong that state of limbo, and your child will respond accordingly. When you go, your child has an opportunity to re-center in his or her new state of “here without my parent.” And, if he or she does not re-center, please rest assured that I will call you.
Our pre-visits all went so beautifully; I think our group is well on the road to adapting to time at Joyful Garden in which they will work and play happily, and thrive. One thing to be aware of: sometimes the third or fourth time a child comes to Community is much, much harder for them than the first or second time. Perhaps a child feels that coming to Community was fine, as a lark, but now that she sees that you mean this to be a regular thing, they have something to say about giving up the time at home with parents... In any case, I hope that being forewarned of this possibility will assist you in accepting your child’s feelings and behavior, and walking through the gate with confidence that his or her needs will be met, in that moment, and every moment that she or he is at Joyful Garden.
