An Advice on Easing the Transition

sign up for a playgroup for you and your son.
B.

i have a 9 year old that goes to school and a 4 year old that didnt make the dead line for age to start... he also ask every 10 or so mins when hes sis will be home.. i just say in a little bit... and i plan little projects for him to do... make fun projects for her to do.. glue mac noodles on paper.. or make popcorn neclaces...draw pretty pics... watch a cartoon together... make pudding... when my daughter is in school i just take that time to teach my son new things.. abc or numbers etc.... good luck and hopefully this helps you...

If you live in MN there is the ECFE program. I go to college and my daughter just started fisrt grade so we are both gone for most of the day. This leaves my husband who works nights and my son home together. My son has been really started to get lonely so my husband signed up for some ECFE classes. Also depending on your income you may qualify for the headstart program. I know we are going to look into it for next year so that my son(he's 2 now)Can say he goes to a school of his own even if it is a preschool.

I am too in the same boat I sent my 5 year old on Tuesday and my almost 3 year old misses her boppy is what she calls him. I signed my daughter up for Dance so she had her own thing to do which was on Tuesday. Then it came to today and she thought she was going to dance so we had to do our own dance here which was alot of fun. Maybe see if you can do something community ed with her to make her not miss her as much.

M.

Hi L.,

I'm going through the same thing! I would suggest if possible and time allows to pick a day for you and your 3 year old to join the 5 year old for lunch at school. Its easy to do, just go in and get a visitors pass. If you plan on eating with her at the cafeteria, then make sure to call in the morning to the secretary to let them know so they can make enough food for everyone.

Here's a new chapter of your life and your 5 year olds life also. Take this time trying to build and spend quality time with your 3 year old. Yesterday, me and my 3 year old took a bubble bath together and I gave her a little lotion massage which she loved.

Today, my 5 year old was a little overwhelmed with going to Kindergarten full day (as that's the only option), and wanted to stay home. We had some teary eyes in this house and so we made some special plans to go swimming after school. So she would have something to look forward to when she gets out!

Good luck and let us konw how its going!

K.

Hello L.,
Time is so abstract to small children. Your youngest needs to "see" time. Here are two ideas:
Take pictures of the 2 kids having breakfast, a pic of them saying good bye to each other, a pic of your son eating lunch, a pic of him taking a nap... common events that happen each day. Hang those pictures on the wall at his height as a timeline. He'll see how the day progresses through the pictures and will get a better idea on his own of when his big sister will be home. Another idea is to do the same thing with a clock; preferably one with hands. Put the clock at his level and draw a series of clocks on paper and place them in a timeline. On each clock, draw the two hands in at the top of each hour: the first clock might show 8:00, the second 9:00, etc. The last one will show the time when sister will be home. Focus his attention on the little hand and help him to catch it at the top of each hour for awhile until he can see the comparison on his own.

I too just sent my oldest to kindergarten on Tuesday. We have our 5 year old, a 4 year old (they're 14 months apart, and the BEST of friends) and then 13 1/2 month old twins. We've all been rocked by this HUGE change. We didn't do pre school, we did all the learning at home, and he is now in school from 8:35 am - 3:10 pm every single day. My four year old was jealous, because he wanted to go too, and he of course misses his brother. What we found that helped was to get a preschool work book, and do activities from that, so that he felt like he was learning right along with his brother. Then when they get back together at 3, they share what they are learning. I've also just tried to keep as close to the normal schedule as possible, that we had, even when our 5 year old was here. It has really seemed to help.

This is a really difficult transition, I wish you all the best with it!!!

J.
SAHM Mommy to:
Dallas-5
Gabriel-4
Kaleb and Kendyl - 13 1/2 months