What About Mom and Dad?

Preparing Parents for Preschool

By Gail Johnson

Denise Marks, mother of a 4-year-old son in St. Paul, Minn., spent weeks preparing Ben for his first day of preschool. "We drove to the school several times, attended orientation sessions, met his teachers, and he even played with some of the other students," Marks says.

All of Denise's careful preparation paid off. On the first day of preschool Ben was happy to see his teachers and started playing with the other children right away. "Ben was fine, but I was a wreck," she says. "I spent the next two hours crying in my car. I didn't have the heart to leave the parking lot. I don't know what came over me."

Most mothers work hard to prepare their child for the first day of preschool, but unfortunately many do not prepare themselves for the transition. Karen Peckels, parent educator and Early Childhood Family Services manager, in Eagan, Minn., says that preparing parents for the transition is just as important as preparing the child.

The most important thing parents can do is work on trust issues. "It is vital that children learn to trust their caregivers in order to build secure relationships – the same concept must be applied to parents as well," says Peckels. "It's just as important for parents to build trust in the person they are turning their child over to."

Parents can work on trust issues in many ways. First, parents should investigate the preschool to make sure the teacher is trustworthy and that the values and goals are similar to the parents'. "It's important to spend lots of time at the preschool," says Peckels. "Don't just go by word of mouth. Parents need to observe the caregivers, how the children are treated and what the environment is like."

Want to see more?

• Talk about it!
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• Off to School We Go: Should You Send
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