Parenting 4/5/6 year olds - what is it about?

[Prairie21]

My eldest is just about to start school and it feels like we're about to enter a whole new world. Just when I was finally starting to feel confident as a mum and roughly knew what I was doing with a baby/toddler.

So tell me, what are those years about, what should I be doing to help DC thrive?

Also, after just seeing a post online about teaching children to be kind and accepting of differences, any recommendations for age-appropriate books to help explain this properly? What about teaching DC about body privacy to keep them safe? Is it something I should be teaching now?

Perhaps it's a stupid question but I guess you don't know what you don't know.

Thank you in advance for any insights!

I wasn't prepared for the level of drama around friendships when starting school. I have a girl so not sure if this is general but the tears and tantrums after school over it. I wouldn't focus on resilience and self esteem.

Agree about resilience, also in terms of trying hard things, lots of expectations around being independent and quite a steep learning curve.

In terms of practicalities:
Dont try to fit in lots of things after school to begin with.
Be prepared that they will be very stimulated after school, take a snack like a banana for them to eat on pick up - it makes a world of difference, a quick trip to a park and then home. 3pm-5pm can be very tricky so if you can have dinner pre done in a slow cooker etc that is useful.
Don't bother asking "what did you do today?" You'll never get an answer out of them, ask "what made you happy / sad / laugh?", "what did you find tricky, what did you fail at and how would you do it better next time" etc. DD started to reciprocate this to me too and I found if she asked me "how was work?" I'd just reply "fine" but actually the targeted questions work both ways.

You could be teach the NSPCC PANTS system.

Try role playing different social situations "What should you do if someone doesn't want to play with you?", "What could you do if someone was by themselves with nobody to play with?", "What should you do if someone hurt you?"

Make everyones life easier and make sure your DC can put their clothes on independently, the M&S easy dressing range is great for this as there is velcro on the top half of shirts etc so no need to do tricky buttons, elasticated buttons on polo shirts to make them easier to put on and off. Velcro shoes until laces can be done or silicon lace replacements are brilliant from amazon, DD first had them in her tap shoes for quick changes but we soon used them in her school shoes too, they go in the lace holes and are basically like elastics that keep the shoe on the foot even when running but stretchy so easy for shoes to be taken on and off.

The first half term is full of coughs and sneezes and I wouldnt advise on booking anywhere for October half term as they will be very tired and need time to decompress, DD always got ill over October half term.

Make sure the child can open and close their school bag, lunchbox pencil case etc.

Wise before 5 is a good book for this age