April and May are months of new beginnings as the last dregs of snow melt away. But, for those of us who live in preschool world, April and May are endings. We busily finish up projects and activities and begin the final assessments for the year. Children are moving on. How can you help your child be successful?
- Continue to raise an empathetic child. Teach your child to see, feel, and experience that which others feel. Sometimes it can be painful – as with bullying.
- Teach your child to thank. From the earliest days, have your child write thank-you notes. Nothing takes the place of a thank you note. When children are young let them draw a picture and dictate to you how a gift or action was accepted.
- Allow your child to make simple choices. Learning to make choices and live with the decision teaches a child to make bigger decisions down the road.
- Make certain your child knows how to seek help in all kinds of situations. Children need to learn to be confident in questioning that which they don’t understand. Children should be allowed to ask—WHY.
- Teach your child to protect his or her body. No one should be allowed to touch the private parts of your child without your knowledge. Use correct terminology for body parts.
- Teach your child to put off gratification and to save. There are a lot of devices out there that help a child put away a portion of holiday and birthday money for a future goal.
- Show your child how to be helpful and to do chores.
- Always be involved in your child’s life and work.
- Practice conflict resolution. Your child should know how to solve a problem with another person. There are excellent articles on this. Your child will encounter negative actions with other children, teachers, bus drivers, coaches, etc. and should know how to make a point in a respectful way or stop another’s negative actions without involving another party — in the beginning.
