How to Prepare Your Child for Preschool with This Important Experience

COVID-19 has demanded that parents take on some teaching duties. With months of limited or no in-person school in the rearview mirror and the possibility of more months on the horizon, parents are overwhelmed and stressed, to say the least. For parents with preschoolers, the lack of in-person school can be especially difficult. Neuroscientists tell us that birth to age 3 is the most critical time for brain development. While school-aged kids may be able to benefit from remote learning, younger children are still in the pre-operational stage, making it unrealistic to expect them to gain much from screen-based school.

In the preschool classroom, separation and autonomy, rather than curriculum, are the primary objectives. As a former preschool teacher who specialized in teaching toddlers, my primary goal for my 2-year-old students was that they feel comfortable without their parent or adult caregiver in the room. Unfortunately, with many families spending their days isolated at home, it is impossible to re-create the parent-child separation that is inherent in the in-person classroom.

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Creating Routines at Home Helps Prepare Young Children for Preschool

But there is an important objective of the preschool experience that can happen at home, without demanding too much of your time or causing too much additional stress. For toddlers who are not enrolled in a preschool program or who are participating in remote learning, implementing a brief at-home routine that includes a few simple transitions can lay a strong foundation for when they finally do start or return to school. After all, a predictable set of routines forms the core of any good toddler program. Activities such as circle time, washing hands, and snack take place in the same order each day in the classroom. The predictability and sequence of these activities is repetitive but not trivial. In fact, the repetitive nature of these transitions helps toddlers understand that they can manage basic life skills independently and without undue anxiety. After a few weeks, they know the routine and can anticipate what is coming next.