First Day of School Preparation

Series Summary

The first day of school is a rite of passage for every child and parent. It can be stressful, nerve wracking and rewarding to send children off to school, whether for the first time or after summer vacation. The stress of preparing a child for the first day of kindergarten, first grade, junior high or even college is often created by a lack of preparation or knowledge. Learning about needed supplies, as well as how to mentally prepare the child and parent can be extremely helpful in making the first day of school run smoothly. In this free video for parents and students, an experienced teacher explains how to prepare for the first day of school. Get tips on needed supplies, and learn how to get a child ready for kindergarten, first, second, third and fourth grade. Older children need help getting ready for the first day of school as well. Watch an expert explain how to prepare for the first day of junior high, high school and even college. Sending children off to school is a different experience for every parent, but with the right preparation parents and students will have success.

Video Transcript

"No matter how old your child is or what grade they're going into, there's usually some first day apprehension before the first day of school. Hey, I'm Debbie Noah, and I'm here to hopefully help relieve some of the first-day jitters for you and your child. One of the first things you need to do when you're preparing your child for school, especially, the younger ones, but actually all the way up, is talking positively about school; what's going to happen, all the new friends you're going to meet, all the new things you're going to learn, you're going to get to have a new teacher. Talk about things that you remember when you were a child that were happy memories of starting school because your attitude and your feelings are going to absolutely reflect on them. If you're excited, they're excited. Another thing that's so important about a week before school starts, start getting on your school routine. Start; go ahead and get in bed the time that they will when they; when they start school, a bed, a set bed time. Before they go to bed, let them practice laying out their clothes for the next day, get their backpack packed up next to the door. Get everything organized the night before, that's going to cut out a lot of stress for you and your child. Set an alarm, make them get up. It's going to be hard when they're in their lazy days of summer, but get them ready, get them up so they'll be practiced on doing that, and then practice driving or walking to school so they don't have those apprehensions. Talk about what they're going to have for lunch. Are they going to buy their lunch or are they going to take their lunch. Decide that on the night before. Be sure you buy all the supplies they need. There are; most school districts have websites to give you what each grade level needs. You can go to your local stores. My personal favorite, is to buy it from the school's PTA. It will save you a lot of headaches and you'll be sure to get what your child's teacher wants. Go to the meet the teacher night. That's going to put so many apprehensions to rest when their child sees their classroom, sees their teacher and celebrate the start of school. Start a family tradition or continue one. One in our house; we always had a special dinner the night before school started. You can have a party, or create a book or take a picture. Those are a few ways to help, hopefully, relieve those first-day jitters. So, mom and dad and kids can have a great first day of school. I'm Debbie Noah and that's how to stop those first-day jitters."