Starting Preschool – Trying Times

So far, Bee is having a hard time being in (two day, afternoon pre-) school.  It has only been 2 days, mind you, but it is still a hard time for us.

She puts on a brave face at drop-off time (the first day she was so excited that she forgot to say goodbye – instead launching into “I have great news! Today is my first day of school!” with the teacher.  Then later the stories unfolded about how she was so sad while I was away.

Almost the very first thing to come out of her mouth when she woke on the second day of school was, “Why would we waste a perfectly good day like this at school?”, followed by “You’ve already taught me everything they teach there, anyway.”

She’s usually such a happy kid, and makes friends on playgrounds in 2 seconds flat, so it’s confusing new territory and it breaks my heart – but I’m trusting those that say it gets better.

Here is one resource, among several, that I’m ‘road testing’.

Quick Click: 9 Parent-Tested Ways to Ease Separation Anxiety – Ease preschool drop-offs with these simple suggestions.

We picked up a copy of The Kissing Hand this afternoon, too – and we’ve read it together three times.  Her teacher suggested making a necklace with our pictures on it that she can wear – so, we’ll try that tomorrow (her third day).  They are all reading A Pocket Full Of Kisses tomorrow in class (which is a sort of Kissing Hand sequel).

We addressed the subject of her being more advanced than many of her peers by choosing a mixed-age Montessori classroom for her – even so, her teachers seem very impressed by her vocabulary and knowledge.  When she isn’t crying.

I’ll post more about these days of change in our home – including pics and info about the biggest little change – but this post serves as my late night venting about a subject that is probably affecting a lot of families at this time of year.