Sometimes, the stay at home parent, usually the mother, has to return to work in order to make ends meet in these economic times. With young children, this presents a potential problem. When a mother re-enters the work force and a child is going to have to enter an all day nursery school, or perhaps even kindergarten, they could be in a situation where they have never been away from Mommy for that long or for that many days in a row. “You mean I won’t see Mommy all day every day until Saturday? When’s Saturday?”

Play Dates As Preparation

Children should become used to and be able to feel comfortable in social settings where neither parent is present for a period of time. One good way to ensure that this can be reinforced is by arranging play dates with other children where a network of parents take turns, with perhaps two of the parents acting as the supervisors and several children being dropped off at one house or even at a playground for a few hours, with the other parents leaving and heading off for those couple or few hours to run errands or just relax. Start slow with play dates that are just two children, switching turns, then if you are lucky enough to build a network of friends with children of similar ages, it is especially good if the child gets to meet new friends in a small groups, as when they enter nursery school they are going to meet LOTS of new people. By the way, birthday parties don’t really count, even though they’re fun.

Is Your Child Ready?

It’s always a good idea to visit the school with your child before he or she actually starts, meets the teacher and gets a glimpse of what it’s going to be like. Also, make sure your child is ready. Unless absolutely necessary because both parents will be working, your child may simply not be ready for nursery school. The child should have reasonably good communication skills, the ability to follow instructions from another adult, be able to go to the bathroom alone, and should be able to get along well with other children.

Also, try to talk up the experience of going to school as something that you enjoyed when YOU were that age and how much you learned and how much fun you had. Watch videos or pick out books and read them with or to your child that are about school and compare it to the school that they will be attending. On the BIG day, make sure that everything is ready, clothes picked out and ready without a fuss, and perhaps let them bring a favorite stuffed animal with them. You should check with the school of course if this is allowed.