We adapt the baby to kindergarten

Depositphotos.com

It seems that just recently you brought your baby from the hospital. But time has flown by, and now he is about to join the first children's team in his life. How to prepare your child for kindergarten? What to teach him to facilitate the adaptation process? What to say and how to behave so that the baby endures the changes in his life painlessly? We will try to find answers to these questions.

Many parents are faced with an unexpected problem – the child categorically refuses to go to kindergarten. No persuasion helps, every morning turns into an endless tantrum. In this case, you should not think that the kindergarten is bad or your child is not used to it yet. Rather, you made several mistakes that now have to be corrected.

First of all, the baby must be prepared for visiting a children's institution. He will have to accept very serious changes, and this is impossible without prior awareness. In a sense, kindergarten life is the exact opposite of the whole experience of a child, and the momentary transition to it entails serious stress. For comparison:

• At home, the child is the center of adult interests. He is taken care of in the first place, even his mistakes are discussed individually. In the kindergarten, he is only one of the whole group, and not at all the most important;
• adult family members love the baby, they are affectionate and indulgent. Kindergarten workers treat all children equally, they must be obeyed, even if they don’t like something;
• daily routine, activities and food in a preschool can be very different from home;
• in the kindergarten, you have to contact not only with individual children, but also with the whole team, and this is far from always comfortable.

To avoid complete rejection of new circumstances, the child should be prepared for them in advance. Considering that in big cities babies are enrolled in childcare facilities almost from birth, we will assume that the kindergarten is chosen long before the baby reaches the optimal age to start visiting. By the way, experts consider 2,5–3 years to be such an age: it is then that children endure the adaptation period most easily.

3-4 months before the start of a new life, it is necessary to introduce the child to the place of his future "work": talk about what the children are doing in the kindergarten, how they play, dine, study. It should be emphasized that the baby got the opportunity to attend kindergarten because he has matured, wised up, and become independent. It is great if older family members let the child know that they are proud of his successes and look forward to further achievements. It makes sense to make the surroundings of the kindergarten a place of constant joint walks, so that the child can see how others play on the territory.

Experts note the following patterns:

• the more fully the child has self-service skills, the more confident he feels in the group;
• it is easier for kids to adapt to the garden, whose daily regimen has been previously adjusted, bringing it closer to that adopted in a children's institution;
• it is easier for a child to learn to communicate with other children and caregivers if he knows how to play and occupy himself on his own;
• children who have experience in communicating with their peers adapt well. We are talking about the simplest skills of dating, exchanging toys, talking, inviting to a game, etc.

Depositphotos.com

It is necessary to accustom the baby to kindergarten gradually. For several weeks, it is worth picking it up before lunch or immediately after. It is very important that the child knows exactly when they will come for him, and that this rule is never violated. Bringing the baby to the garden, you need to be friendly with all the children, their parents and caregivers: for your baby, this will be a sign of reliability and safety. Good results are obtained by the establishment of rituals of farewell, meeting, returning home.

One of the most important aspects of accustoming a child to kindergarten is the confidence of parents that such upbringing is necessary. If someone in the family doubts and sees some alternative, the baby feels it, and adaptation is much more difficult.