If your child is starting school in September, then there is one key skill that you should teach them before they begin.
The summer is flying by, and our little ones will be back in school before we know it. But for some families and kids, this September will be a much bigger milestone – it’ll be their very first year of primary school.
It’s such an exciting time, if not nerve-wracking, for both parents and school starters, and mums, dads, and guardians are probably doing their best to prepare their kids for the big transition. Luckily, there is plenty you can do to prepare them, and it’s less to do with knowing their A, B, Cs and 1, 2, 3s and more to do with knowing practical skills that will help them in school.
Key skill parents should teach their kids before they start school
A school social worker and mum of two has shared one key skill that parents should teach their children ahead of September.
Brittany Brady tells parents how to help prepare their kids for primary school, sharing advice and tips with her over 46,000 Instagram followers. She says that the ‘best’ skill to teach children to help their confidence is to practise lunch.
‘One of the easiest ways to build kindergarten confidence? Practise lunch at home,’ Brittany explained.
She said that the skills that are the most challenging for school starters are ‘everyday tasks like opening containers, asking for help, cleaning up after themselves, and managing lunchtime independently’.
Brittany says that these lunch skills are easily practised at home, at the kitchen table, and this is something you should do with your little one right now.
Ensure that you buy the lunch containers that they will be using in school over the summer and practice opening them at home – if they can’t open them at home, they won’t be able to do it in school.
Skip ‘complicated packaging’ and choose things that children can easily manage themselves. Practice eating in a 15-20 minute timeframe as that is the amount of time they will likely get to eat on their school break, and you should also teach them how to ask for help if they need it.
Brittany tells parents that school isn’t the time to introduce new foods to your child, especially when they have just started school, so pack foods you already know they like so they can ‘head back to class with a full belly and ready to learn’.
You should also let your child help pick out or pack part of their own lunch to help ‘build ownership and independence’, and this also includes when picking out the hot school lunches that all primary school children in Ireland are eligible for.
