How to Prepare Your Child for an Early Education Centre

If you have a toddler and live in Melbourne, then you may have looked into sending your little one to a preschool in Delahey. It’s a daunting prospect for any parent to leave their child in the care of others, even when they are qualified professionals, and you naturally want them to have the best start possible.

There are all kinds of issues that your child could potentially face when attending an early education centre, such as loneliness, bullying and falling behind in activities. In order to give your child the best start when sending them to a preschool in Delahey, consider the following tips.

Meet the educators

While you have likely already had a robust interview with the chief minder at whatever preschool in Delahey you have nominated, have you talked to all the staff? If you are really concerned about how your child is going to do, especially in their first few days, it pays to meet all the relevant people and at least have a brief chat with them.

Organise playdates with friend’s children you know are attending there

Another great step to prepare your child for a preschool in Delahey is to organise playdates with any of the children who are already attending or who are going to start the same time as your child. This will obviously familiarise your child with who their peers will be and will mean that they will already have a small friendship group when they arrive on their first day.

Because your child will be leaving the constant supervision of a close relative for the first time, it really helps for them to have a familiar face waiting for them on their first day. This is especially useful if their new friend has already been attending the centre for a while and has experience with how everything works on a typical day.

Even if you don’t personally know any other parents engaged with the centre, with the advent of social media it could be very easily to organise something for the mutual benefit of your child and a few others. If you explain that you are seeking for your child to get to know some other children beforehand, other parents who have similar concerns will likely jump at the opportunity.

Practise short-term separation

The biggest thing to prepare your child for before they attend a preschool in Delahey is the long period of separation they will endure on their first day. Being separated from the figure they depend on for care is incredibly difficult for any child, especially if they have no experience with the feeling prior.

With that said, it can be very helpful to practice small periods of separation with your child so that they understand that the sky won’t fall down without you and that you will eventually appear again. Leaving them with a trusted friend or relative for a period of time and then returning will prepare them (at least slightly) for all of the emotions they will feel on their first day at the preschool in Delahey.

Make your goodbye short and sweet

The first goodbye when you drop your child off at the preschool in Delahey will undoubtedly be the toughest for them (and probably you too). This is often characterized by intense crying or downright tantrums as the realization they are going to be separated from your dawns on them.

If you have already practiced separation with them this could be made a little easier, but the new environment will likely be a little scarier than anywhere you left them before.

Don’t linger with your goodbye, just make sure they arrive safely into the care of the educators and then leave. The longer you stick around, the longer it will take for your child to accept that they are being temporarily separated from you.