Nursery

[sharedplanet]

PFB (3) will begin Nursery attached to a primary school in Sept. What milestones does he need to have reached? what will be expected of him? I am slightly worried that he is quite "energetic" and it takes all our attention to keep him out of mischief. I just can't imagine him being in anyway compliant

Don't worry, they've seen it all before. They should usually be able to go to the toilet by themselves, and it's useful if they can put on a coat and perhaps manage their shoes. Beyond that IME they learn the rest as they go along.

They won't expect anything - and will be quite used to non-compliancy!

As Seeline says, ideally focus on the practicals - toilet, clothing (although ds couldn't put his coat on before starting nursery!) Definately buy easy-to-put on shoes...

Thanks - the thing is he has never been in a nursery before, only family child care. This is great, but it is all such a big unkown.

Remember to put his name in everything, as at that age they are too little to take much responsibility over their belongings. Also, don't send him in decent clothes - my DS used to come home daily covered in mud, paint, glue, playdoh .... He had a great time!! Does the nursery have some introductory sessions where you can go along together and discover all the exciting things to do? Definitely worth going if you can.

Seeline -thank you good advice, they do have a morning session in a couple of weeks, but parents are not allowed! - it is going to be so strange to drop him off somewhere with strangers - I suppose the perspective is that everyone else has / will done it and I know rationally it will be fine.

We have been sent some forms to fill in asking for as much info as possible about ds and our family. They have asked for instance if he needs reminding to go to the toilet and help. Also things like favourite toy etc.

He is having an into session in July and I can stay if I want too.

A couple of practical tips for the forms etc.
If your child uses a special word for the toilet e.g. DS used to use the Arabic word for wee as DH is an Arabic speaker make sure the nursery knows otherwise he could be telling them he needs the toilet and noone will know.

Favourite toys is an important one as they often try to have toys out that your DS would like at their first session to help with settling in.

We usually invite the parents and child to stay for an hour session initially then the child alone for an hour then an hour and a half building up to the 3 hour session.

Have to say we do expect compliance as do all school nurseries I know of rules are there mainly to keep children safe.

He will also probably be exhausted as there is so much going on, so many different toys and other children to entertain and play with etc so he may need a sleep if he doesn't already still have one in the afternoon.

Get him to recognise his name so that he can hang his coat up on his peg and give him a bag that is also easy to hang up.

I always found it amazing that the nursery staff could get 30 children all to sit on a rug, peer pressure is an amazing force

God I'd love it if he got tired out! Thet nursery goes on till 3ish so no opportunity for an afternoon nap. Often he does not go to sleep till 10 even though he has been tucked up at 7. "I want another story" then "I want a drink" then "I want to come down stairs" (comes down stairs to be taken up again) then big guns "I want a hug" said with saddest voice in the entire world - then silence ominous silence hanging thick in the air broken by some light drumming and perhaps a song repeat of list of demands intermingled with whingey moan cries.

The supper nanny thing with the naughty step is completely ludicrous in reference to DS. We are lucky that he is not full of evil intentions, but if we need to convey a serious message, such as holding hands when crossing the road it takes a lot of energy often shoutyness and repeating. All other things such as "don't paint the wall" "leave mummy's bag alone" etc are dealt with by totally ignoring and sometimes the odd cunning non sequitur.

Half the battle when explaining why x is naughty or something he should not be doing is keeping a straight face even when angry as he knows how to play us. I am just worried about conferring authority in the teacher in his mind as clearly she will not have the same amount of time we do to keep our adorable little shit in line, with all the other adorables.

A parent once told me my status in her son's eyes was one step down from God and that breaking my rules weren't an option. Parents are often very surprised to discover their non complacent child is the most adorable peaceful soul in school.