I decided not to start my boy RAP with school too young. I thought too early would be not suitable for a young child. Many of his friends started at 3 while rap was still hanging out in the house with me. I used to do some activities with him like writing, coloring, puzzles, pasting and etc. Then he would play with his tata while I get on with my studies.
The time was close to start him off with school. We checked a few and settled for one that we really liked. Brightly set up class area and montessori concept. To our advantage, his aunt was also working there. So rap will still have a familiar face in case he can't handle the separation with me. I had to put in a lot of thought to handle the separation as it was too new to him and me.
In order to prepare him for preschool, I planned ahead to adjust few things as listed below.
1. Sleep wake timing was cruciak to have a great start to the day. He used to wake up at 8 and go to bed at 10 or sometimes even 11. I slowly adjusted him to go to bed by 9 and hopefully sleep off by 10. He then wakes at 7. But the timing wasn't sufficient to get to school in time. Because he wants to lie in bed with me for some time and then he would take reasonable time to have his breakfast. With the timing adjustment, he now wakes at 6.45 when the alarm on his watch rings. He has no trouble in waking up when the alarm goes off. If he's had sufficient rest, he'd be alert to start off.
2. Eating time was also important since he sometimes does not focus on his meal but his cartoon. He would take long to eat because of the cartoon. So I gave him 15mins timer for breakfast. Though sometimes he takes longer than that. That's partly the reason I had to wake him at 6.45am instead of 7am.
3. Then I had to let him wear his uniform pants for a day so that he wouldn't fuss about wearing a new pant or tshirt on school day.
4. Taking a drive to school even before the start day. 2 days before the actual school starting date, we took a drive to school in the morning. Encountering the traffic and the route to take. The 1st day was not a suitable route as it kept on adding delays. As we reached school, there were other parents of new students waiting at the compound. It was an opportunity to show and tell rap about the parents waiting procedure. The 2nd day was better but still late on arriving. We made it on time for the school day. So far arrival as been earlier and no rushing.
5. Playground times had a cutoff time compared to previous extra minutes. This practice was in place just about a week before school. Yet rap was unhappy that other kids could have extra time but he adjusted. Fridays and Saturdays he gets extra time to play outdoor.
6. Preparing breakfast and snack box also had to be adjusted, mainly on my side. I used to prepare breakfast only after rap is out from the room. He would wait for the breakfast or help me with it. It can't proceed this way. Breakfast has to be ready before he is out of the room so sleep time is not jeopardised. The extra sleep in the morning would help him to stay alert in the class. I also prepared a breakfast and snack box list for about 3 weeks with different combinations of food that rap loves. Healthy meal and filled tummy would provide him the energy he needs throughout school. 4 days into school, rap wakes up earlier than his alarm and helps me make breakfast. Sometimes it works for me to ask about breakfast and snack the night before. In case he has any special requests, I could put that in place. I would also tell him what I had planned to prepare and if that's fine with him. This way seem to work quite well and he won't be upset about a breakfast in the morning since he knew it earlier.
7. I also allowed rap to get used to alarms few months before school. I used the alarm as a wake up call for his evening playground time. He would usually wake but still lie in bed and cuddle up with me for some time. So using the alarm from his watch now, for the morning is a breeze. He would wake and sit up or sometimes call out to me when it rings.
8. Separation from me is one of the toughest to implement. He would be with me wherever I would go and had never been left behind in the house even for a short duration. That attachment needs some changes. So I told rap I will be going for work in an office soon. He thought it is the university, where he usually comes with me. I said this office does not have such flexibilities in bringing kids to hang around the compound while I'm at work. I spoke about this many times and one fine day I said it's now time. I left him home with my dad for about 2 hours. He was fine but called to ask me to get home soon. The next day he was upset I had to go. Yet I still left. He may cry now but he wouldn't be feeling the same when it happens in school. At least that's what I hoped for. Then after for the next 3 weeks he would be fine when I leave and sometimes call to say to be back early. This practice will be handy when I have to leave him in school and it sure does seem to work for the 3rd day in a row at school. He wouldn't ask for me until school is over. Partly because he is pretty occupied with all of those activities in class and his caring teacher.
With all the above adjustments put in place after much thinking and planning appears to be working out to smoothen rap's school life. I see rap to have adjusted well into school and that makes me happy. I hope other mothers could gain some idea from my plans in preparing their child for school days. All the best.
