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It is back to school time in our neck of the woods. Over the next week or so kids will be waking up early, getting dressed in that cool new back to school outfit, getting their backpack ready and heading out the door to board the bus for their first day of school. It is both a very exciting time and a very nerve-wracking time. I can remember being filled with first day of school jitters during the days leading up to the start of school. The first day of school means big changes. Meeting a new teacher, new classmates, figure out what this year brings in terms of knowledge, getting used to a new routine, it is all enough to make our kiddos feel very nervous, and us parents too.
There are several things you can do to help ease your child’s back to school jitters and nerves. You won’t be able to alleviate them entirely, nerves are part and parcel of going back to school, but you can help ease their minds a little and make them feel not so alone.
- Acknowledge your child’s fears and give your child a chance to talk about what is making him nervous.
- If your school has an open house before the school year starts be sure to attend. Meeting her new teacher, seeing what her class room will look like and walking the halls of the school will all help alleviate some of her worry.
- Accentuate the positives. Talk about your child teacher, the school bus, and school in general in a positive manner.
- Bring your child along when picking out school supplies and let them help decide which ones to go with. They will be more excited if they know school will mean they get to use that cool new backpack they helped pick out.
- Buy a few “back to school” books to read with your child. If their favorite character has one pick it up to help show your child that going back to school is fun, even for (insert favorite character).
- Buy your child a special going back to school outfit. Having a special new outfit to wear on the first day of school will help make your child feel special and help get them excited about the first day.
- If you are packing a lunch for your child include some of their favorite lunch foods and a special note to remind them that you are thinking about them and hoping they are having a wonderful first day of school.
- On the first day of school make the day all about your child(ern) cook everyone’s favorites for breakfast, make a big deal about taking first day of school photos and plan a special dinner of everyone’s favorites.
Usually after the first few days your child’s nerves will calm down and their fears about starting school will be gone. Just be sure to continue to give them a chance to talk about their day, their fears, their ups and downs at the end of every school day.
What do you do for your kids to make them feel special on their first day of school? What do remember from your childhood about your own first day of school jitters?
This morning, while Maya and I were at the nursery picking up a few flowers for our garden, we were having a pretty in depth and detailed conversation about flowers, colors, gardens, and what we were going to plant where. I hardly noticed the other mom and her son until Maya turned around and said something along the lines of “that silly boy is hurting the flowers” as the little boy was pulling blooms off of a marigold plant. I looked up and smiled at the mom as she was trying to reprimand and teach her son about being nice to the plants, trying to show my support and letting her know I’ve “been there, done that”. Maya started telling the little boy all about the flowers, what color they were, showing him how to gently smell them, etc. The mom sighed a very deep long sigh and asked me how old Maya was and where she learned to speak so well. When I told her she was 2 and a half she told me in a very disappointed sounding voice that her son was almost 2 and a half as well but didn’t have near the vocabulary or concept of language.
I tried to reassure her as best I could. It is hard when you start comparing your kid to other kids. There is a reason we shouldn’t do it, it usually just makes you feel bad. No two kids are alike, they development and learn and grow at their own pace. Her son seemed like any typical two year old. Although he didn’t have a huge vocabulary he seemed to be doing just fine. He talked back and forth to Maya just fine.
The whole experience got me thinking about the things we have done with Maya to help her with her language development. Things I’ve read about online and in parenting books about language development in toddlers and preschoolers. There are lots of ways you can help your child with their language development, little things you can do in your daily life that will help their vocabulary and language skills grow.
- From the very beginning talk to your child often. Even something as simple as narrating what you are doing is a great way to show your child how language is used, teach them different words, etc.
- As your child begins communicating back, even when just babbling back to you, engage them in conversation. Respond back to their babbles as if they are real words.
- As your child begins using words be sure to hone your listening skills. Sit down and listen carefully to the stories your child tells you. Engage and respond to encourage your child to continue the conversation.
- Help your child grow their vocabulary by pointing out new things as you go about your day. Practice how to say new words together.
- Sing songs. Singing is a great way to encourage your child to use the language skills they already have and to build their vocabulary.
- Read. Read. Read. The more you read the better. Children learn so much from reading, including the proper use of language, new words, how words sound, etc.
- Encourage your child to read to you. Even if they can’t actually read the words yet, get your child to make up a story as you go along flipping through a book.
- Correct your child’s grammar and mispronunciations. Be consist and discreet. A good way to do this is to simply repeat the phrase back to them using the proper pronunciation and grammar.
Basically the more your child hears language in use the more familiar they will be come and the faster their own language skills will develop. Remember that children develop at different rates. Just because your friend’s child who is the same age has a huge vocabulary doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with your child. If you are concerned about your child’s language development be sure to discuss your concerns with your child’s doctor. If there are speech and language development issues the earlier your child begins speech therapy the higher the rate of success.
Talk to your child, read to your child, engage your child in conversation, encourage your child to tell you stories and before long you’ll forget what it was like before you kiddo could talk your ear off.
Children learn about money, especially young children, by observing what their parents and other respected adults in their lives do. The information the soak up in watching us with our money will greatly impact their own opinions of money down the road. Whether they are spenders or savers, logical with money or irrational with it will depend in large part on what they learn about money growing up. Even if you don’t actually talk to your children about you will still be teaching them something about it.
Sadly, there isn’t much teaching going on when it comes to money, especially in school. Unless parents sit down and talk to their children about money, make it a point to share what they know, what they’ve learn, children will likely only have those observances from their childhood to fall back on. Most schools do not specifically teach children about money, about the value of money, about what spending versus saving means. Although this is valuable and necessary life information it often gets over looked.
There are many things you can do as a parent to help teach your children about money. Things like:
- Taking them to the bank or ATM with you so they can witness and learn about some of the different transactions that take place involving money.
- Taking them shopping with you and teach them about spending wisely.
- Giving your child a little bit of money and teaching them about saving versus spending.
- Giving your child a means to save money, like a bank account of their own, and teaching them about the importance of saving up for big purchases.
- Letting your child watch you pay bills and talking with them about using the money in our accounts to pay for our expenses.
- Teaching your child about spending wisely by clipping coupons, looking for sale items, etc.
- Talking candidly with your child about money and not making it a hidden, secret topic.
There are some great online resources that include activities you can do with your child to help teach them about money. Here are a few:
By teaching your children about money, sharing your financial experiences with them, you are giving them some of the tools they will need to be successful in their own life.
Maya is currently in a love affair with a new book. It is by far her favorite book right now. She reads it at least a dozen times a day and it is always one of the books she picks for our before bed story time. The book is the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham, better known around our house as the “Sam Ham” book.
I’ve talked before about Maya’s love of reading. Everyday when she gets out of bed the very first thing she does is run over to her book shelf and starts looking at her books and asking me to read her a story. One of the very first books she goes for these days is “Sam Ham”, which is fine by me because it is such a fun story to read 
She loves everything about the book, the pictures, the story, everything.
Not only does Maya love to have us read this book to her but she loves to read it to herself. She will turn each page and examine the pictures while saying “no like sam ham”, this goes on for forty odd pages. When she gets to the second last page she says “oh, I like sam ham” with a big smile on her face. On the very last page she says “thank you thank you sam ham” before closing the book and starting all over again. It is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve tried my darnedest to get a video of it but she always stops reading as soon as she realizes I’m filming her. This is the best I’ve been able to get so far. She loves her “Sam Ham” book
If you can’t see the video please click here.
One of my very favorite things to do is to curl up somewhere comfy and spend hours lost in the pages of a good book. For as long as I can remember I have loved reading. As a little girl my mom used to read to me all the time. We had shelves and shelves of books to choose from. When I was able to read on my own I would spend great amounts of time with my nose stuck in a book. I joined every reading club in school. I used to love those summer reading lists that the teachers would hand out to get us ready for the next school year. The library was one of my favorite places to go with my mom.
This love of reading that I developed at a young age resulted from my mother’s own love of reading and her desire to foster a love of reading in her own children. She encouraged us to read, she challenged us to be better readers by engaging us in discussions about the books we were reading and she made sure we always had access to lots and lots of reading material. One thing that used to bug me at the time but that I understand now that I am older, was that if she felt like I didn’t know enough about the book and couldn’t tell her enough about it if she asked questions she would make me go back and read it again. Which was fine if I enjoyed the book, but man did I hate that if I didn’t like the first time around. I get now that she was just trying make me a better reader and helping me to have better reading comprehension, but boy did it bug me.
As a mom I am embarking on my own quest to foster a love of reading in Maya. Already I can see the fruits of my labors.
She loves books. She loves reading by herself, loves sitting with me reading books. She will choose to read a book over playing with toys almost every time. At the Science Center here in St. Louis they have a little reading corner. That is the first place she ran to when we got to the Science Center the other day and she spent half an hour there contently reading their books on dinosaurs and weather, it was adorable.
Everyday, at least once, I’ll realize that she is being very quiet and I look in her room to see her sitting quietly in front of her book shelf reading away. She used to just flip through the books and look at the pictures, but now that she has started retaining and memorizing some of what I have read to her I will actually catch her “reading” the books too. As a mom who is also an avid reader this just warms my heart. To see my daughter already loving books and reading and learning is just so awesome to me.
She even reads to the cats
Reading to your child from the very beginning is so important to their cognitive development. They learn about language by listening to the stories you read to them. They will learn things like the alphabet, new words, the meaning and concepts behind the words they hear and, of course, will eventually learn to read as well. So grab a book and read to your child, it will be the best thing you do all day, I guarantee it.