Helping kids adjust to school

Much to my surprise, despite looking forward to it for the entire summer AND an excellent first day, my daughter isn’t fond of school. To the point of many tears and a lot of moping. It’s really hard to send your kid out there while knowing they’re not having a great time.

Being the tech geek mom that I am, I went looking for tips on how to help a reluctant child to adjust to kindergarten. Apparently I’m not alone because I found a ton of blogs full of similar experiences. They all seem to come down to the same thing, that often it just takes some time and then they’re okay.

However, “time” is relative, so I also found this site to be quite helpful. It’s full of tips from actual moms instead of random experts. My favorite one was the suggestion to send a locket with pictures of the family inside. That’s the first thing I did after reading it – I closed my browser window, dug up an old locket and chain that I had in my drawer, and I put a picture of my husband and I on one side, and her sister on the other. She really likes it. I’m hoping that it will help her if she feels lonely, to feel like her family is with her at school.

I really hope it works, at least a little, because I don’t know how many tear-filled arrivals back at home I can handle before my heart completely breaks. I’d love to hear other suggestions from parents who have been there and survived.