How To Help Your Child Start School Confidently

The first day of school… is your child excited for it or dreading it? Perhaps they’ve not given it a second thought – but you definitely have. You’ll want your child to go to school confidently so they can have a good time and learn at the same time. You’ll want them to be ready to make friends and to answer questions, and not feel lost.

To make sure this happens, you need to help your child start school confidently. There are a few things you can do before they start to ensure they are ready by the time September comes. Read on to find out more.

Help Them Love Learning
If a child has already developed a love of learning before they even get to school, they are going to enjoy the process much more when the time comes. They’ll also be more confident because they already have at least some of the answers. At the very least, letters and numbers won’t be completely unfamiliar to them.

This is why it’s important to help your child develop this love of learning as early as possible. Read to them every day from the time they are born – this is fantastic for learning and for bonding – and talk to them about simple maths as you count out coins or count leaves on a tree branch while you’re on a nature walk. If they are interested in something particular, help them to nurture that love and research what they want to know; this is yet another key lesson at home that will make them more confident at school.

Explain About School
Because some parents don’t like to think about their child going to school or they just assume their child already knows that they will have to go, they don’t take the time to thoroughly explain just what school is, why it’s important, and what will be involved.

This can mean that by the time the day comes to go to school, the child is actually very confused. They might not understand where they are going, why they have to get up early, or why they are wearing the same clothes as everyone else. They might not even understand why you’re not staying with them or what they are meant to do. This won’t have been intentional, but it can still be a problem.

Make sure you explain all about school. You can even talk about the things they will do as they get older, like residential trips for schools and choosing their own favourite subjects to learn. The more they know, the more confident they will be. They might even be able to help children who don’t know what school is all about.

Teach Them About Goal Setting
Goal setting might not seem like something a four or five-year-old needs to think about, but it can actually be very beneficial when it comes to giving them more confidence. In this way, even if they are struggling with lessons, they will always know what their goals are. They will know that to reach those goals, they’ll need to ask questions and listen to the answers.

As they see their knowledge getting better and better and realise that they are reaching their goals, their confidence will improve, and they’ll want to do more and more – that means more learning and a better education for them.

*Collaborative post