How to Prepare Your Child for Daycare
Most children go to daycare before school officially starts, and it can be a big transition for both kids and parents. To help your child adjust to this new milestone, we’ve rounded up eight of our best tips to help the entire family make the transition to daycare together.
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Tour the daycare together.
Try to visit the daycare together for a tour before it officially starts — multiple times if you can. Let your child explore the new environment independently (but while you are still nearby) so they can get acclimated before daycare officially begins and you have to drop them off. Meeting the teacher more than once will increase the odds that your child remembers them. You can also take pictures of both the daycare and the route you will drive to get there and put them in a photo album that you can review together with your child. So, have your child put on their cute toddler girl pants and shoes so they can be comfortable when touring and make a great first impression!
Talk to your child about daycare.
As the start of daycare approaches, talk to your child about daycare and what it will entail. Try to strike a positive note and get them excited about daycare. They might have a lot of questions about what will happen there, so try to answer them as honestly as possible. Don’t overload them with information, though. Children have a very short attention span and will only retain small soundbites. You can also explore media such as children’s TV shows and picture books that depict daycare through kid-friendly visuals.
Practice the drop-off.
The drop-off is often the most jarring part of the daycare transition for both children and parents, so it makes sense to practice it in advance. Ask to drop your kids off at a friend’s or relative’s house while you run a short errand, and pretend like you are leaving them at daycare. Not only will this give you a chance to practice your goodbye routine, it will also teach them that their parents will always return for them. You can also pretend to play daycare at home, going through activities that they will also do at daycare (such as playtime and snacktime) in order to help them acclimate before daycare begins officially.
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Adjust their sleep schedule.
Starting daycare may require some adjustments to your child’s sleep schedule. For one, you might need to get them up earlier in order to get them to daycare on time. You might also need to adjust their nap schedule, either by changing the times or reducing the number of naps they take (for example, if your child naps twice a day but the daycare only does naptime in the afternoons). Start making these adjustments a few weeks or months in advance so that your child can fully adjust to the new sleep schedule before daycare starts for real.
Create a morning routine.
Another thing that you should do in advance is to create a morning routine for your child so they know how to get ready for daycare. Wake them up at the same time and then have them get dressed in their toddler boy pants, eat breakfast, comb their hair, brush their teeth, put on their toddler girl shoes, grab their backpacks, etc. Practice this at home for a couple of weeks until it starts to feel normal for your kids. You can even practice going for a drive with them after you finish the routine to mimic the daycare commute. This will ease the transition for both of you and make the eventual drop-off easier.
Pack their bag in advance.
Most daycares will have a list of things that kids need to bring with them every day, and they may also have a second list of more items that need to be left at the daycare (such as a backup outfit). Pack this bag in advance every night before daycare so you aren’t scrambling around at the last minute trying to round up everything you need. Place it by the door, in the car or somewhere else equally obvious so that you don’t forget to grab it on your way to the daycare. Adding a familiar object such as a beloved blanket or stuffed animal will give your child comfort at daycare and help them make the transition.
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Ask the daycare teachers for advice.
Daycare teachers have pretty much seen it all, and they are often a great source of advice on various matters. They will probably have tips for accomplishing a tear-free, fast drop-off, as well as suggestions for what activities to do at home to acclimate your kids. You should also take this opportunity to ask the daycare providers questions about the school. Also, talk to them about your child’s particular quirks and cues, such as the signs that they are hungry or have a dirty diaper, which will save them some trial and error and make the transition easier on your child.
Project positive emotions.
Transitioning your child from being with you full-time to going to daycare on their own is likely going to bring up a storm of emotion for you. Even if you have older children who have already moved onto school, every new daycare drop-off will still trigger feelings for you. Kids can pick up on these emotions, even if they are nonverbal, so try to project excitement while talking to them about daycare or touring the facility. During the drop-off, try to hold onto your tears until you are out of eyesight and earshot. Even if your child is crying buckets when you leave, their tears will probably dry shortly — but seeing you cry can make parting ways more traumatic for them, so try to keep things upbeat until you have some privacy.
Proper planning is essential for easing your child into daycare and making the transition easy for both of you. Follow these tips and your child will be ready for daycare before you know it — and don’t forget to pack their daycare bag!
Tags: daycare
