5 Top Tips to Help Your Child Settle in School and Reduce Crying at Drop-off

Starting school or even just moving to a new class at school can be very frightening for children, but there are many things we can do to help make the process a little more friendly for our tiny humans. Here are five of my favourite tools to help your child settle at school and not feel as sad at drop-off.

1. Preparation

Prepare your child for the change ahead through conversation or routine charts. As parents we generally have a mind map of the activities that will take place on any given day and we forget that our children are often not privy to these plans. If your child is younger it is helpful to use a picture routine card to explain the activities ahead for the day or the week. This can prevent them from feeling blindsided when it comes to drop off time for school and you will find that it can help them emotionally and mentally prepare themselves for their day ahead.

2. Calming Tools

Just before leaving home, the walk or car ride, and the actual drop-off for school can be stressful periods for children. There are many tools you can use to help them cope during these periods. Engaging the sensory system is a great way to help kids cope. Chewing can be very calming and tasting something nice can be pleasant and distracting. Perhaps when it comes time to leave the house offer your child a “school time” chewy food that they can chew and enjoy as they move from the house towards school. During the walk or car ride you can give them play dough scented with lavender, which will engage the proprioceptive system as well as the olfactory system and both can help to calm your child. At drop off be sure to give your child a big bear hug, it will offer proprioceptive input which is very calming.

3. Encourage social and emotional maturity

Invest in their social and emotional maturity. This is an area of development that is often forgotten, but if you invest in this area of development your child will be able to use their new social and emotional skills to help them cope with the demands of drop-off and the whole school day. There are lots of tools to help encourage healthy social and emotional development. My favourite is books. Reading to your child helps you to bond with your child, which can help them feel secure. The right books can also cover content that will help your child understand their emotions and engage in conversations about social and emotional topics. All of our Once Upon a Rhyme books teach children about healthy ways to process their emotions in a fun and exciting way. To view all our books click here: Once Upon a Rhyme

4. Comfort Toy/Object

If your child doesn’t already have a comfort toy or object it might be a good idea to get them one. It would be preferable for the teddy or toy to be weighted so that when they cuddle it for comfort or carry it around they are getting calming proprioceptive input. You can weight their current fluffy toy by opening it and filling it with some dry beans or rice to give it extra weight. Comfort toys can be helpful for school drop-off as they may help your child not feel alone when you leave.

5. Short and Sweet

Now that you have prepared them for their school day and have also equipped them with coping tools ensure that drop-off is short and sweet. Tell them you love them and say goodbye.

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