With the first month of school coming to an end, we talk to moms about their sons and daughters experience coming to school for the first time. We spoke to YCIS mom Jenny Chang about her son Justin’s first day of school. See part one and two, of the series here.
Was Justin scared to come to school?
Scared? Not at all! My three year old son Justin was very excited and eager about going to school because he’s finally able to join with his five-year-old brother Brendon. Going to school for Justin means “grown-up” kids. On the first day of school, I took Justin to school myself instead of letting him ride the school bus with his brother. I took him to his classroom and carefully told him that I had to leave him but would come back to pick him up after school. He gave me a big hug and a goodbye kiss and then he walked in the classroom to look for things that interested him. I didn’t leave school right away because I was worried that Justin might look for me and would cry if he couldn’t find me. I went back to the classroom after 30 minutes and peeked through the window. Then saw Justin happily playing blocks with the new friends he had just met.
Who had a harder time saying goodbye?
I think it’s me that had a harder time saying goodbye.
How did you prepare him for the first day?
In order to help Justin with his transition to a new school life, over the summer I started telling him how fun school would be and what kinds of activities he would do during class. Of course, I also trained him in some basic manners and self-care skills that he needed to know before going to school. Plus, the new student orientation before school started was a very good event for kids to get to visit their classroom, meet their teachers and get to know the school better so they were able to adopt to the new environment easier and sooner.
Photo: Courtesy of YCIS
