How to mentally prepare your children for 1st grade?

Children born in 2016 will enter 1st grade in the next 7 months. However, it has been nearly 2 years so far since students in Hanoi and many other provinces across the country have been able to go to school. This has prevented many students from having access to the opportunity to fully develop language skills, thinking skills, and social relationships. It has also had a strong influence on children's readiness to enter 1st grade. Facing that unconventional context, how should parents emotionally prepare their children for 1st grade? Please refer to the related sharing of Ms. Pham Thi Thu Phuong, representative of Vinschool Metropolis Primary School’s Management Board.

We all agree that in the current context, while staying at home, children still need to acquire communication and behavior skills. Therefore, the first thing parents need to do is to spend enough time talking with children and teaching them rules of appropriate behaviors. Parents can actively initiate conversation with children to learn about their feelings and thoughts. After a long time staying at home, children may feel isolated and anxious when they have interaction with strangers, or they might be too attached to their parents. Therefore, parents should regularly let children interact with friends or relatives via video calls to minimize the feeling of loneliness or boredom.

Parents should talk about entering 1st grade and share positive information about primary school; for example, school name, subjects, teachers, learning style in 1st grade, school meals, and especially the possibility that their children might participate in online classes in the context of the Covid pandemic. When playing with children, parents can raise some questions such as “When will you be starting 1st grade?” or “Why do you like 1st grade?” These questions will help children become better prepared for the transition.

Thirdly, parents should  encourage their children to express their wishes. You can support your children to express themselves in full sentences so that they can connect better with their friends and teachers. Parents should also guide their children on how to stay safe during the pandemic if they have the chance to go to school: how to keep face-masks clean, how to wash hands with sanitizer and how to ask others for help while at school.

Parents can help their children prepare school materials and books for 1st grade and inspire children through these preparations. Parents can make a schedule with their children and carry out planned activities every day together.

Finally, parents should make sure children know that they are always supported by their parents when entering 1st grade.