Adjusting to Kindergarten - Ellicott City,MD

I can relate, we are in the same boat. However, his morning routine did not change at all, as he has been in daycare for 2 years. It is just the adjustment of changing class rooms and teachers and friends. He hasnt slept well at all since school started. He also reports feeling sick and not wanting to go. I do find that if he gets dressed first thing, then has time to relax in front of a favorite TV show it helped a little. This morning, though not perfect was far better than last week. I am just hanging in there for now!

What has helped me is getting my kids to sleep earlier and waking them up earlier. I have been giving my little munchkins a very small dose of melatonin after our nightime ritual. It has helped them go right to sleep without all the playing and fussing and getting up every 5 minutes. I don't give it to them on the weekend because I want them to be able to sleep without it. Then, I started getting them up a half hour earlier every day. It really helps them to have that extra time to watch a little PBS and snuggle on the couch with me while they wipe the sleepy out of thier eyes and I talk to them about what friends will they see at school that day and if they think they will get to go outside for recess. That gets them excited to go to school. Then breakfast, teeth brushing, and wash thier face with cold water. By this time they are wide awake and happy as can be. Then getting dressed is not a battle. They race to the car and are starting the day off energized.

Get a good evening schedule so she can get a good nights sleep. Children thrive on schedules and routine. She has to have that good sleep each night.

Make sure at night she has already picked out what she will wear the next day. Ask what she would like for breakfast the next morning. Make sure her backpack has everything in it so there is no last minute, running around.

Our daughter (and I) are not morning people. We do not like to be awakened with a lot of racket questions and chatter. I used to wake her up 15 minutes earlier than necessary and give her "5 more minutes" of sleep.. And then maybe another if she was still totally out of it, This gave her a little control over when she was waking up.

I told her once she ate her breakfast she could watch a video or a show for the amount of time til it was time to leave.

The other thing she loved was inviting a friend over after school so they could play. I would give them a snack, they would do their Homework and then could play till the parent picked up the child or until I took the child home.

This gave our daughter something exciting to look forward to.

See if there is a child or some children at school your child would like to invite over.. Quietly, ask the parent before you suggest it to your child so they are not disappointed if the parent is not ok with the idea. Only 1 child at a time at this age.

Be sure to be excited about what your child is learning and doing each day. Talk about what they will be doing the rest of the week and how she "would not want to miss out on that".. How her fiends will miss her if she is not there.

This is a big change and not unusual. Most times, I bet when she gets there she perks up.

I just kept reminding my kids how much fun they had, the kids that would miss seeing them, ect. Both my boys always took naps after school, even in their first grade year. In fact my youngest just started second grade this year and ended up napping yesterday, lol!
Best of luck!

My daughter just started 4th week of full day kindergarten. It's been hard on us too. Although she likes her teacher and new friends, she tells me almost every morning that she doesn't want to go to school and she wants to stay with me instead. I'm not surprised though because she also did this from time to time when she went to preschool. I have explained to her that daddy and I have to go to work and that going to school is her job. We just had an open house last night at the school and she was so proud to show us around and she really seemed to interact well with her teacher and friends.

Can you spend some special one on one time with her at some point in the day? Maybe you could snuggle in bed with her in the morning or read an extra book at bedtime. She's probably just feeling a little overwhelmed and needs a little extra TLC from mommy right now.

FYUI: If she is that nervous about school she probably isn't faking feeling sick, she probably does feel sick. Just take it slow and keep talking about the good stuff, but acknowledge her feelings and talk about them.

I didn't read through the other responses so forgive me if there is anything I say that has already been mentioned. My older son, now 8, had a hard time adjusting to the all-day kindergarten schedule. I decided that we would do something fun every Friday to "celebrate" him completing another week of school. This gave him something to look forward to each week. It could be going out for ice cream or getting a new movie he wanted to see... whatever your daughter likes. Also, maybe you could set up a reward chart for her. Each morning that she gets up, gets dressed, etc.. she could earn a star and after earning a certain # of stars, she could get a special treat.

Make sure that she is getting enough sleep at night so she is well-rested everyday. Move her bed time up if needed and stick with it even on the weekends until her body fully adjusts to it.

I know everybody always says it, but time will make things better. I remember what it was like to have my son crying in the mornings, claiming to be sick, etc.. because he didn't want to go. I took him anyway (ecxept when he was really sick, of course) and it didn' t take long for him to start enjoying it. Hang in there, this too shall pass!

A little advice handed down to me from my older sibling.
You need to nip this now.

Sit her down and simply explain that K is very different than Pre-K.
She is expected to go every single day unless she is vomiting or running a fever.
Make a list for her to check off in the morning: Eat breakfast, get dressed, comb hair, brush teeth, pack backpack, etc.
Go through the list with her.
You need to be very consistent with it.
My son was king of the "my stomach hurts..." routine.

For after school, get into a homework routine. Like a drink & snack, then homework before dinner.
And move up the bedtime to compensate for the loss of the nap! That should help. Good luck.