How to Adapt Your Young Child to Daycare by Designing a Schedule and Following a Routine
When preparing to send your child to daycare, it is important to get them used to a consistent schedule and routine so they will feel more comfortable and can transition to their time in daycare more easily. Young children thrive with routines because they learn what to expect throughout the day. Throwing in some variation will also help them learn to adjust to new situations. Before sending your young child to an Ottawa daycare, consider these tips for an easy transition from home to daycare:
Repetition
Create a daily schedule for your child that follows the same order to help them get comfortable with a similar schedule at daycare. For example, this routine is fairly typical for most daycares in Ottawa:
- Wash up and clean hands before an early snack time
- Sitting down for a snack or light meal
- Washing hands and tidying up before the next activity
- Wash up and prepare for lunch
- Go for a walk or get to a park for an outdoor activity
- Quiet reading time
- Nap time
- Afternoon snack time
- Games and fun activities before heading home
Not only will your child become accustomed to this type of schedule, but they will also learn to be patient and wait for a scheduled activity to finish before moving on to the next. If your child wants to go outside when it is time to eat lunch, remind them that they can do so after they are finished eating.
Preparing for Upcoming Activities
You can help your child prepare for upcoming activities by reminding them of what is coming next and what they must do before they can move on to the next activity, such as washing their hands before eating and winding down before a nap. By doing so, your child will get used to these instructions and will have a better time understanding their daycare schedule and be comfortable with their teachers.
Vary the Activities
Learning to adapt to changes is an important part of emotional growth. You can teach your child to be comfortable with changes in their daycare schedule by varying their activities, such as new play activities, reading different books, and eating lunch in the park instead of at home. By following a schedule, but with different activities and changes in scenery, your child will learn to cope with changes at daycare.
Starting daycare is a big change for young children and can be difficult to adjust to at first, but you can make the transition easier by preparing your child with a routine and schedule that they will be familiar with in daycare. For questions about daycare and daycare schedules, contact your Ottawa daycare providers. They can help you and your child with the big transition, and before you know it, your child will be excited to go play with friends at daycare every day.
