Jaime Lewis (Host): This is Children's Health Checkup where we answer parents' most common questions about raising healthy and happy kids. I'm your host, Jaime Lewis. Starting kindergarten is a big milestone for any child, and this year many kids are entering school after spending most of their early years at home, whether because of the pandemic, homeschooling, or simply family choice.

Today we're talking with Marjorie Brown, Behavioral Healthcare Manager at Children's Health about how parents can help their children adjust from home to classroom. Hello, Marjorie. It's great to be chatting with you.

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Hi. It's great to talk to you. Thank you.

Host: So many young kids starting kindergarten this year have spent most of their early years at home. What kinds of challenges might that create for them in the classroom?

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Yeah, so with kids spending the majority of their time at home before going to school, you may see some anxiety, some stress related to being away from their parents or caregivers all day. Definitely some tears that first week. So the first really month is a big adjustment for them as far as their just day to day and being around more people.

Host: Well maybe beyond those initial couple of weeks, what are some signs a child might be having trouble adjusting to the school environment in general?

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Yeah. So, usually they should be able to self-regulate after a certain amount of time. S, if they're crying, sad, anxious going into class, that's perfectly normal. By the first like hour or so, they should have readjusted and been able to be in the classroom and be calm and ready to learn.

If you find that your teacher is telling you that the child was dysregulated all day or even really half of the day, that may be a sign that they're having trouble adjusting or if by maybe October, they're still having some trouble getting into class or going to school; that may also be a big sign that they're having more than typical trouble adjusting to going to school.

Host: How can parents help their child cope if they've never spent much time away from them before?

Marjorie Brown, LPC: One thing that I like to tell parents to do, when a child is going through really any big change, is to practice with them first, so they can get an idea of what's happening before it actually happens.

That's a great way to prepare them. Another great preparation technique is through like role play or doll play. We do that in play therapy a lot as well. So if you are getting ready to send your kiddo to school and they maybe have dolls or a dollhouse, you can have them act out with the doll like, this is what you're going to be doing.

We're going to drop you off at school, and then we're going to walk you in, and then you're going to go meet the teacher and these other dolls are all the other students. How do you think that the doll feels and just kind of have them process it before it happens and that can kind of prepare them mentally and emotionally for that first couple days of school.

Host: That's such a good way to kind of front load all of the feelings, yeah.

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Yeah. And they can ask all their questions and get everything out before they actually get to school.

Host: Are there everyday activities even outside of school that can help kids practice social skills?

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Yeah. If your child is into like any sports or activities, that is a great way to get them engaged with kids their age. So maybe like T-ball or gymnastics or an art club, anything like that. Church groups, if that's something that you guys do, is a great way to get them connected. Also if your child is already in school, connecting with the other parents and seeing if you can do play dates or dates to the park, so they get to know their classmates outside of the school setting, and they're more prepared when they get there to spend time with them.

Host: It sounds like you're already touching on what I was going to ask next, but what can parents do throughout the year beyond the initial couple weeks or even month? What can they do on a regular basis to keep supporting their child's emotional and social growth?

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Check-ins are a great way to know where your child is at at any given time during the year. So making it a practice to maybe before you go to school, check in with them and see how are you feeling about school today? Are we excited? Are we scared? Are we tired? Are we mad we have to be here. Also checking in afterwards. What was the best part of your day? Was anything really hard today? Did you learn something new? With kiddos, like four or five years old, I tell parents, and I also give this to parents when I'm working with them in therapy; a feeling spaces chart is really helpful because that can visualize what these big feelings are.

So you can even google feeling spaces chart for kids and you'll find a bunch. You can print it out and have it in your car, or you can have it at home on the refrigerator and just have them point to which face matches how you feel now, which face matches how you felt at recess or how you felt when you learned math.

And that way they can start to connect their experiences with the feeling and they can communicate that with you. And then you can attend to what's going on. So if you start to notice that they say recess, they're always feeling scared or sad; maybe they're having a hard time connecting to the other kids, or something's going on during recess that's making them upset and you can follow up with the teacher to see what's happening.

Host: Okay. Well, what other advice would you offer parents who want to support their child's transition from home to classroom, whether their child was a pandemic era baby, or simply homeschooled?

Marjorie Brown, LPC: I would definitely recommend connecting with their teacher first, so you can talk to the teacher, get a feel for their personal teaching style, and you can also let the child know, Hey, I met Miss such and such and she's so great. You guys are going to have so much fun. Really hyping up the school experience is going to be key in making them feel really excited about it.

This is a great thing that we're doing. You're getting to learn, you're going to be a big kid and then when you get done, you get to come home. That first few weeks of school, I always recommend letting them come home and just kind of decompress, giving them that space to relax, get all any extra energy out that they may have and talk to you about what their experience was.

And also just creating some routines. Every Friday we want to go to the store and pick out a treat. Or if every Friday we want to go grab some pizza or something like that, something that makes them excited about school and about just the process of their routine.

Host: That makes sense. Well, Marjorie, thanks so much for talking with us today.

Marjorie Brown, LPC: Of course. Yeah.

Host: Thank you for listening to Children's Health Checkup. If you found this podcast helpful, please rate and review or share the episode and please follow Children's Health on your social channels. For more information on how to support your child and their mental health, please visit children's.com/mental health.