It is common that your baby’s first day in nursery is difficult for both you and him, but remember that everything is a process of adaptation and you will soon be enjoying this new stage.
When parents decide to enroll their child in daycare, they always ask themselves a few questions: Isn’t it too young? Will being among strangers affect you? Is it okay for me to go back to work and not take care of my son? No need to worry. If the nursery is of quality, the child will begin to socialize and is good preparation for school.
Going from the caresses and the attention of mom and dad to having to share time with other children has its positive side. Far from posing a threat to the child’s development, it will teach him valuable and necessary behaviors for living in society, such as sharing things or beginning to experience the first notions of friendship.
Relationships with other children
The nursery brings a new facet to the child by expanding their interpersonal relationships: they begin to have feelings of belonging to a group and perceive that there are rules and schedules that all children have to follow together.
Throughout their education outside the family environment, they will realize that they are not the center of everything, even if they continue to be the kings of the house. And also that there are «other equals» with whom to play, have fun and share, but also with whom to fight, from whom to protect their toys, to whom to cry?
Communication development
The little ones communicate with each other in their own language. It is not that they talk to each other without the adults realizing it, but they do use other types of registers and gestures.
If your way of acting changes when you have to address another child, your relationship with adults also changes. After several unsuccessful attempts, he understands that the language and communication he uses with the elderly must vary according to the circumstances and the place. Surely mom and dad will be more sensitive to their gestures of affection than educators, so if you want something, you will have to ask for it differently, wait for your turn or simply settle for not having it.
Nursery and family
Just because our child goes to daycare does not mean that his education is already on track and we can lose ourselves. It is true, in an age where you learn so much and so fast, kindergarten represents a significant increase in the number of stimuli to learn from. But for this process to be fully beneficial, consistency and continuity are needed.
It is good to play with them, to facilitate the adaptation of the children to the nursery and to attenuate the confusion and restlessness that every new situation produces.
This coherence must include all the spheres of the baby’s universe. For example, to have a balanced diet, you have to know what you have eaten in the nursery. It is also important that the rules you follow in daycare have a continuation at home. That is, if they don’t let you play with electric toys there because they are not suitable for their age, they shouldn’t be able to at home either.
And another thing: a fluid dialogue with his “teachers” is the best way to make sure that our son is having good physical, cognitive and emotional development.
The importance of the game
On the other hand, kindergarten is pure fun. All those toys and those grown-ups that invent activities, dances, songs… make it a paradise for games. Although at this age, directing and imposing certain activities is an impossible mission. Therefore, it is the perfect place for them to play on their own and interact with other children. But it is not only fun the shared game at these ages is also an exchange that will facilitate later learning: dialogue, feelings of understanding and possession, etc.
And all this supervised by qualified adults, who know the development of the child and who are attentive to any problem that may arise.