When I was pregnant with my first born, my husband and I talked about it and we came to the conclusion that it would be best for me to stop work and focus instead on my side hustle which was baking at the time so it would be more flexible and give me time to concentrate on my kids.
As a first time mum, it was always me and my son together everywhere. There was hardly anywhere I went that I did not take my son along with me, the only help I had at that time was that of my parents and in laws but other than that I had all the time in the world for him.
My friends who had already had kids at the time advised me to enroll my child in a creche so he could mix with other kids. Instead I chose to home school him and just prepare him for when it was time for him to start nursery school. What was the essence of taking him to a creche when the whole essence of leaving my job was so I could have time for him.
For the next two years, I home schooled him and prepared him for nursery school, those two years I would not trade for anything in world. Nothing could have prepared me for when it was finally time to take him to nursery school. I remember that day like it was yesterday, the anxiety of taking him to school and not seeing him for hours was daunting. I was a nervous wreck.
There was a lot of screaming, clinging and crying when it was finally time to hand him over to his teacher. This continued for the next two weeks, it was hard for him to adjust to the new environment and faces that he was seeing. It was not only exhausting for him, it was also exhausting for me.
When I had my second child, I made sure that I started taking her to creche a month before her first birthday and I prepared her before taking her to school using this tips:
- I started taking her to the creche two times a week for the first week, and the next week I made it three times a week by the third week she was going from Monday to Friday. By the third week she had already adjusted to the atmosphere and had started making friends.
- I read that kids feel it when you are nervous and it makes them nervous also, so I made sure I showed excitement on our way to the school and when I was handing her over to her teacher.
- I did not linger for too long after dropping her off with her teacher. Immediately I got to her class I kissed, hugged and handed her off to her teacher. Even though I could see her crying especially on the first day, and it was hard, I made sure I did not linger because I already knew from experience that it would only make things worse.
- I was advised by her teacher to bring her favorite toy along with her whenever she was coming to school, I must tell you this helped a lot.
Even with all the preparation the transition was still difficult, it helped because I had already done a lot of research before taking her to the creche and she had her brother with her and according to teacher her brother was always coming to check upon her LOL.
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