Is your child anxious about starting school?

Posted on July 29, 2010 by viviankirkfield

With just a few days left to July, all parents know that school is just around the corner.

Do you have a young child who is anxious about starting school? Is it his first experience away from home? These days, many children do have experience at nursery schools, daycare, and other facilities where they have taken part in sports, dance or other activities. Even those children, however, may be fearful of a new school, unknown teacher, and unfamiliar children.

How can you help relieve your child’s anxiety? What can you do to help make that first day of school one of joyous expectation?

Acknowledge your child’s feelings. We sometimes gloss over their fears and anxieties by telling them, “It will be fine. Don’t worry about it.” Worse still would be a response of “Don’t be a baby! There’s nothing to be afraid of.” For that child, there obviously is. Perhaps it would be more helpful to just listen if they are expressing their feelings. Maybe you can share similar feelings you might have had as a child.
Visit the school before the first day. Many schools offer opportunities for new students to spend some time in a classroom before the term starts. Take some photos of the school, classroom and your child in that setting and hang the pictures in your home. This will help your child feel more comfortable about going to this “new” place.
Read one or more of several children’s picture books that target the anxieties young children have regarding the first day of school. During my years as a kindergarten teacher, daycare provider and mother of three, I used picture book stories to help children cope with many of the issues they faced as they were growing up. Teaming up the story with an eco-friendly craft project and a child-friendly healthful cooking activity is a great way to encourage discussion, build self-esteem, and create a life-long parent-child bond.

Here are 3 books and accompanying activities that might help your child face the first day of school with eagerness and anticipation instead of reluctance and anxiety.

TAKE A KISS TO SCHOOL: written by Angela McAllister (For the craft activity, you can make a food chart using pictures cut from magazines and pasted on a piece of construction paper. What foods do animals eat? What foods do people eat? For the cooking experience, make pita pocket (instead of the coat pocket into which Digby put his mother’s kisses) sandwiches using store-bought whole wheat pita bread, chicken sliced from a baked chicken cutlet, lettuce, tomato, sprouts and mashed avocado.)

BILLY AND THE BIG NEW SCHOOL: written by Laurence Anholt (For the craft activity, you can make a bird feeder using 2 slices of stale bread broken in small pieces, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup chopped carrot or apple and some nuts. Make a ball, press a piece of string into the center and roll in 1/2 cup wild birdseed. When hardened, hang on a tree and watch the birds feed. For the cooking experience, make breakfast granola using 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, 1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds, 1 Tb honey, 1 Tb canola oil, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Put all ingredients, except raisins, into a large microwave-safe bowl and mix well. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir well and microwave for another 2 minutes. Stir well again and microwave for 1 minute. Stir in the raisins and let cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 4-5 cups of preservative-free delicious granola.)

THE KISSING HAND: written by Audrey Penn (For the craft activity, you can make clay handprints. I still have the ones my children made almost 30 years ago. You can use store-bought clay or make your own. Work the clay into a ball and roll it flat…about 1/2 inch thick. Put the flattened clay on a piece of cardboard and position your child’s hand, fingers spread slightly, in the center. Help your child press her hand into the clay. Let dry overnight. For the cooking experience, make thumbprint cookies. Cream 1 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup honey in a large bowl. Beat in 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla. Gradually add 3 cups flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Roll a tablespoonful of dough into a ball and then roll it in a saucer that has 1/2 cup sugar in it. Put each ball on an ungreased cookie sheet, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart. Press down lightly on each ball with your thumb (or your child’s thumb) and fill each depression with jelly or jam. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees until the cookies are lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet when cooled. Makes about 4 dozen.)

I hope this helps parents with children who are anxious about the first day of school. I know it helped mine. For more information and support on this issue, go to http://childrensbooks.about.com/b/2010/07/28/august-blog-carnival.htm where Elizabeth Kennedy is hosting a blog carnival about this topic.

Something for nothing at Lowes

Posted on July 26, 2010 by viviankirkfield

These days, you usually don’t get something for nothing.

Thanks to Lowes (the building supply store), you do!

The program is called Build and Grow, a clinic/workshop for children (ages 3 through 5th grade) and their parents (any age!). At 10am every Saturday, at many local Lowes’ stores across the country, young builders and their families can work on a wooden project, receive a free carpenter’s apron and goggles, and leave with a project themed patch (similar to Boy Scout merit badges), certification of merit upon completion of the project, and their finished creation. Upcoming projects include a wooden school bus and a wooden bug box. The first 50 to sign up (online at http://bit.ly/4Y8atK) and show up are admitted to each session.

If you are looking for a wonderful FREE activity to participate positively with your child, check this one out. Lowes deserves kudos for providing such an awesome community resource that not only builds a child’s self-esteem, but also helps create a life-long parent-child bond.

6 items or less…in your child’s toy box!

Posted on July 25, 2010 by viviankirkfield

Yesterday I shared my thoughts on applying the “6 items or less” phenomenon to parenting rules. It hit me that life gets more complicated as we add more “stuff” so maybe if we get rid of some “stuff”, our lives will become easier and smoother.

So, why not take this minimalist idea and go through your child’s toy box and pare down the items to 6 or less. Have you ever been to (or had) a birthday party for a young child where there are so many presents, the child is overwhelmed and doesn’t even know half of what he has been given or who gave it to him? And that is just the point, having too much stuff, whether it is kitchen gadgets, clothing, toys or ANYTHING, is just overwhelming and stressful. Life can be overwhelming and stressful enough without adding to it by accumulating too much.

Just think about it…wouldn’t clean up time be quicker and easier if there were only 6 items for your child to pick up? What will you and your child choose to keep in the toy box? If your child is VERY young, put away all the toys except for 6 items that seem to be favorites and are age-appropriate. If you have doubles and triples of some items, maybe you can donate them to family shelters or local children’s hospitals. If your child is a little older, sit down with her and talk about what she most enjoys playing with. If you are also taking this 6 items or less to heart and are paring down your “STUFF”, she may be thrilled to be “doing what mommy is doing”. Point out how much easier it will be at clean up time…life uncluttered creates a sense of peace and well-being. Again, box up toys that you feel she will grow into…encourage her to donate usable items that are too immature for her. If something has great sentimental value, create a memory box and carefully store it in there.

You will notice I haven’t said anything about your child’s books. Now you’ve discovered MY weakness. However, in this area as well, there can also be too much…I think. What’s the sense in having dozens of books, haphazardly stuffed in toy boxes and under beds. Go through your child’s book collection, donate doubles and triples of any items you find, wean out those in really bad shape, and create a special place (little bookshelf in your child’s room, separate box, etc.) where these treasures can be kept and enjoyed every day. Could I apply the 6 items or less theory to my children’s books? I honestly don’t know. The best I can say is that I would try to keep 6 at hand to be used on a daily basis and rotate the rest.

Depending on your child’s age and maturity, what toys would you choose to keep in your child’s toy box, if you could only keep 6?

And, which 6 books would you choose to put on the bookshelf?