Settling into kindergarten

Beginning kindergarten is an important milestone in the lives of both you and your child. There are a range of things you can do to help your child transition into kindergarten: 

• Reading to your child every day. 
• Gradually giving them more time by themselves, to encourage independence. 
• Packing a change of clothes for your child, or leaving a spare set at their kindergarten. 
• Labelling all their belongings. 
• Encouraging your child to start dressing themselves, so they can be more independent when needing to take off a jumper or a jacket. 
• Practice a goodbye ritual, which becomes gradually shorter so your child becomes less dependent. 
• Keeping the staff at your kindergarten informed of any changes in your child’s life that may affect their experience. 
• Create opportunities for your child to interact with other children of a similar age through play dates and playgroups. 
• Talk about feelings with your child. 
• Talk about ways to express different emotions (e.g. you are laughing because you are happy; you are crying because you are sad).