Prepping for Change in Schools

B.,

He's 3 years old. He's resilient. Tell him how exciting this new preschool will be and leave it at that.

Tell him that Christmas break will be fun and after that?! He's going to be going to school at X.

You freak out? He freaks out. Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill...unless he is autistic or has Aspbergers? Just tell him what's going on - matter of factly.

He's 3........................

He's 3. He will be fine. Don't make a big deal about it.

simply. no long explanations or trying to make it 'better' by stressing what's coming up in the summer.
'you're going to go to a new school soon! it's for bigger kids like you, and i think you're going to like it.'
then respond (or not) as he leads.
short, simple, digestible answers.
more questions will probably arise as he digests the information.
khairete
S.

I hope a military mom chimes in. Their kids have to change schools all the time and most of them seem to find a way to adjust.

Ditto Suz T. Sometimes making TOO big of a deal out of change creates more stress for kids, so keep it simple.

You can tell him because he is becoming a big boy he is going to big boy school. I would tell him now so you can answer all his questions, and there will be a lot of questions. We had to move my daughter out of her preschool at 3 in March and she started a new one in September. She was fine. Just make sure you tell your son how fun it will be and that he will still be able to see his friends from daycare. Even if he won't, he'll stop asking after he makes new friends. We did this with my daughter and it was fine.

Take them to visit at least a couple of times between now and when he starts the new school. I'd also do a little farewell party at day care to give him that closure.

He needs to go and make a friend at the new school so he'll have a sort of anchor if he feels alone and scared.

I'd be excited. If he has not yet seen the preschool, go visit. Point out all the things the kids are doing, get to play with, the projects, etc. Have him meet his teachers and see the cubicle he'll have, etc. I think that doing it after Christmas will make it more "normal". It's a new year, so it's a new school year. Yay! But I do agree to not have like a countdown or something. Give him a head's up but don't make it the Biggest Event Of The Century. We visited the preschool twice with DD before she attended. Once at an open house and once during their summer camp. Just a few minutes both times, but it gave her the idea "ok, this is going to be my school."

I would say calmly and nicely, "you are going to a great new school after Christmas. Let's do a drive by so you can see it from outside."

Then drive by, take a look and then go look at Christmas lights are something fun.

Remember less is more. Visit the school before Christmas break, tell him he is going and that's it. The more discussion the more problems you might create

To answer and to Ally G. When we would get orders we would plan out how far about three weeks in advance of the move to tell the kids. I made the mistake once of telling our son when we were moving very early and the whole neighborhood couldn't wait until we moved to have he stop talking about he move.

Time in a child's mind is different than an adult. Be positive and if you can visit before the move, do it so that he has an idea of what the new place looks like. Three years old is a very easy move it's when they are in middle school or high school that is different.

Enjoy the holiday and the new school.

the other S.

PS Be prepared for a month of wanting to possibly go back to the other school. He will be ok. Just go with the flow and don't make a big deal of it.

I'd tell him he gets to go to preschool. Then later on tell him in summer he can go to camp at daycare.

We have always done similar. The kids go to whatever school, but I choose summer camps at the preschool since they know the environment (even if for whatever reason they were not at that preschool for the year). They start with 2 hour camps but by age 4 can go most of the day.