okayyyyyyy, dd1 has not eaten since midday (apart from a carrot) and has cried since realising that it is school again tomorrow...

[oliveoil]

... so I am thinking tomorrow will be very shit and crap

is the best way to pander and say oooohhhhh no dd1 poor you [cuddle cuddle] or be all brisk and matter of fact and leave her wailing at the door?

she is sensitive and I am a wuss

It's amazing how different siblings can be. My brother was all light, confidence, fun and I, just 10 months younger, was a shy nervous wreck!

Dd's doing a lot lot better. She's still not exactly skipping into school but she is allowing me to leave her without too much heart-ache. I get the feeling she'd rather be at home but I don't think that's going to change. Maybe never. I'd still always prefer to be at home and I'm old!

My dd (also 5 soon) had a few little wobbles around being in the playground. We found "Starting School" by Alan and Janet Ahlberg very soothing and I also bought "How to Be a Friend: A Guide to Making Friends and Keeping Them" by Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Tolon Brown which I think has given her a bit of confidence in the playground because it lays down some rules about how friends behave towards each other. She had a bit of a cough and was under the weather last week and eventually I kept her off school for 3 days just to give her time and space to get better as I think being a bit ill made everything seem much worse.

olive sorry to hear your dd1 had a rough start. If it is any consolation (why on earth would it be), I had to take dd1 into her class room until she was in Year 2.

They all play in playground until bell rings, then they have to line up in classes and say good morning then dutifully file in. Dd1 found the playing thing horrific and cried EVERY day for almost the whole of reception so we just bottled it and waited in the classroom until others came in. Didn't really involve the teachers as I wanted to Do It My Way.

Of course dd2 saunters in without a backward glance, after winking at the headmistress and checking her emails on her blackberry.

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Me again, I also asked her to think what she liked about school and she said, school dinners (she has custard every day!), making models and playing with cars. So now I remind her about these when she's being a bit reluctant.

Experiencing RL pruni

Some bits of it are rather good

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENID!!!

Hello petal!

oh is has been crappo crappo crap, really hard to see her so upset

BUT she seems to be kind of putting up with it, I don't think she enjoys it whatsoever and is just doing as she is told and going in, bless

she is so odd in her behaviour still but hey, that is dd1

teacher told her yesterday that she was the best behaved in the whole school, so she was pleased at that

are you back for good or passing through?

My DS1 settled into school well but was terrified of playtime and lunchtime. The teacher said that he was very worried about the older children and thought that they were going to hit him or be rough with him (which they were not!). My DS was not used to mixing with older children before he started school, and was quite nervous about things anyway. So his teacher took him into the Year 6 class to let him meet the children, had some older children come into his class to do reading with him, and they picked out an older girl to look out for him in the playgound. After only a few weeks I noticed a dramatic change and he was so much happier at school as he was not worried about the older children any more.

So, sometimes it is just one issue that works up into a really big thing in their mind. I really hope things work out for you - so try to stay positive.

emwi - yes I have the starting school book and it is really good, and the other one, I think Aloha on here recommended and I have it on my Amazon order list, am pondering whether she is too young tbh

the positive side of dd1's many neuroses is that she is now EXTREMEMLY conscientious and has always been v well behaved (through fear I suspect )

back for yooooooooooooooooooo olive

5 when?

5 next Tuesday

she takes orders quite literally, like teacher said "go to office and get staples" and the woman in the office gave her some paper as well and dd1 got upset and said "no, I only need staples"

she is the errand girl, teacher wants her to be useful I think

and she also says she doesn't like praying (ha!), tis CofE school

OO, your dd1 is so like my dd! Mine would do that too re. the staples incident. She's obsessed with rules and I sometimes think half of her problem with school / other children is her distress at seeing other people not behaving 'to order.'

Having said that she's doing much better and has made friends with a very quiet little Japanese girl (who's so cute!) who clings to her mum at the school door like a limpet.

My dd was 5 last Wednesday btw.