Learning: nursery school
© DK
When a child starts nursery it can be hard to learn to play together. Help your child to learn with games that involve sharing toys with others.
As your child reaches three years old start thinking about whether she would benefit from going to nursery school. The advantages are that she will meet lots of new friends, as well as interested and sympathetic adults who are good at knowing how to widen a child's horizons. She'll have the opportunity to try new and interesting activities and she'll learn to socialize and be a member of a group. Lastly, and most importantly, she will have to be able to manage without you.
The decision as to whether she's capable of doing without you for long periods of time will be one of the factors that you'll have to weigh up when you are deciding the pros and cons of nursery school. If your child is very shy and clinging and doesn't talk easily to other adults and children, frets when you leave the room and follows you wherever you go then you are going to have problems with nursery school. You can, however, fall back on the knowledge that most children manage to get used to nursery school and indeed thrive on it so well that they miss school when they're on holiday. Bear in mind that with a little careful planning you can help your child get over the frightening first stages and she need not feel deserted.
Assessing a nursery or playgroup
There are several different types of group for pre-school children - play groups, nursery schools and day nurseries. Ring up your local council and get a list of all approved pre-school groups in your area. Choose two or three schools from this list that you can visit.
Go about your assessment in a thorough way. First of all, talk to the teacher in charge. Make an appointment to go and visit the group and sit in on some of the classes. If possible, spend a whole morning or a whole afternoon there so that you can get a feel of the routines, the amount of discipline, whether the teachers are strict, whether you approve of the way the children are treated, whether the environment is happy, informal and cosy and if the children seem happy. If you can, have a look at the facilities and talk to another mother whose child goes to that particular group.
Once you have chosen a nursery or playgroup, ask if you can take her along to sit in on a session a few weeks before she is due to start so that she can get used to everything. This will help her settle more easily when she starts going regularly.
New Babycare
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley
Text copyright © 2009 Miriam Stoppard
Posted 30.06.2010
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