Preparing Your Child For Nursery

Starting at a childcare setting is a big step and although our setting is cosy and safe, your child may feel nervous about it. We have a set settling process we follow for new children to our nursery, which helps the process. In addition, from our experience, the following ideas will really help the transition:

• Play ‘let’s pretend’ games with your child. By play-acting the different experiences they may have at Casa Tierra, it will help them to get used to the language. It can be as simple as building the routine of hanging up their coat, saying ‘hello’ and goodbye’ to you and finding their shoes! Anything that you do before-hand, will then be familiar to them when they start with us.
• If you’ve never left your child with anyone, it may help if they are looked after by a relative or close friend from time to time. Try this a few times before they start with us, so they get used to the idea of being away from you.
• It’s a really great idea to take them to play groups or classes before they start childcare, this will give them a chance to meet other children and get them used to activity-based play.
• It is a good idea to align your child’s day-sleep routine with our sleep routine (see our Daily Schedule for details). This helps your child’s routine enormously and allows them to really enjoy their day.
• In addition, it is a good idea to get them used to different people settling them for sleep, so they are not just reliant on one person to put them to bed. It makes their transition to childcare so much more comfortable for them.
• If you are still breast feeding your child when they start nursery, it is important that they are not dependent on breast feeding to sleep during the day. Good sleep routines will ensure they get the most out of their childcare experience.