Settling into Nursery – Top tips

Top tips for children and especially, parents

With the summer holidays quickly coming to an end, parents of young and school-aged children across Dubai have school and nursery on their minds. Supplies, pickups, drops off, lunches, new routines, new teachers, old friends and even new ones. Feelings such as excitement, apprehension, nervousness are all part of this annual ritual, particularly if you’re the parent of a child who will be attending nursery for the very first time. Add in feelings of protectiveness and hopefulness surrounding this milestone,

With so much to think (and possibly, worry) about, we have some helpful tips – based on both my own experience as a parent, as well as a nursery teacher with over 28 years’ experience – to make the transition a smooth and happy one for children and their parents.

• Meet your nursery team:

Make an appointment as a family to visit the nursery and meet the team. Good nurseries should welcome you and your family with open arms and once there, meet your child’s teacher or teachers, the staff who will interact with your child and ask as many questions as you like. Ask about the nursery’s settling in policy and discuss possible scenarios with the team at your nursery. Introduce your child to the teachers and tour the nursery together so they can get used to their new surroundings. Also feel free to tell the nursery team about your child, their likes or dislikes, favourite toys or comforters and try to limit those items to something small if your child must bring a reassuring reminder of home with them.

• Talk to your children:

In the weeks and days leading up to start of nursery, talk to your child about their new adventure. Explain the fun they’ll have and new friends they’ll meet. Make it an occasion to look forward to. You can even use a calendar to count down the days to this new adventure. Talking to your children about their new nursery in advance ensures that they’re not blindsided by a new environment and new people on that first day.

• Remind yourself of why they’re going:

As a parent myself, I remember the bittersweet moment that I dropped off my own son for his first day of nursery. Your baby is growing up and let’s face it, it may make you want to scream “stop the clock!”. When my own son went to nursery I had to give myself a pep talk and reminded myself of all the benefits of nursery, the learning, the fun, the socializing with other children and other adults, how it would (and did) give my son confidence as it also allowed him to indulge his curiosity with new activities and experiences. Having done due diligence on his particular nursery all those years ago, I knew he was in a safe and loving environment and reminding myself of this, helped me tremendously.

• Plan a warm, loving and reassuring drop-off:

We’ve all been there. When I dropped my own son off to nursery for the first time he latched onto my legs with a strength I did think possible for a toddler. I see this almost daily as a nursery teacher and more often than not, after a few moments of attachment, children usually carry on to nursery, coaxed by a teacher’s cuddle or seeing a familiar friend, unfazed and seemingly forgetting the feelings of just a few moments ago. The important thing during this time, and particular the first nursery drop-off is to maintain your own composure, be warm, loving and reassuring but try your best not to be emotional.  Say good-bye and tell them you’ll be back soon! Once your child and other children are out of sight, feel free to let the tears flow and also remember, it does get better!

• Maintain communication:

A good nursery will usually follow up on or during a first day with a phone call to let you know how your child is settling in. In my experience, most first days are happy occasions and children leave excited and enthusiastic about new friends and fun activities. In any case, feel free to call and check in at the nursery and maintain communications with the team and teachers. At Children’s Oasis Nursery we are always here to help, at any time and love speaking with parents about their children’s progress.

Remember, the first day is just that, one first day. It is a lovely milestone for children and their parents and at the end of the day, a big smile and hug make it all worthwhile.