When school reopens, students return to school ready for another term of learning new knowledge and encountering new adventures. As parents, we often wonder how to transition our children back to school.
Let’s look at preparing our children for returning to school and learning some essential life skills.
Getting our children involved in packing
A staple part of our school lives, we’ll look at getting our children involved in packing their school bags.
While it may seem like an enormous task ahead for younger children, packing their school bags teaches them responsibility and independence – the very values that Kumon tries to inculcate in our students.
We can start by teaching our children to read the timetables, colour-code the subjects if necessary, and then let them attempt to pack their bags. Then we go through what they have packed together with them and pack in the correct items if necessary.
What if our children forget something
While every effort has been made to pack the school bags according to the timetables, there’s still a chance that our children will forget something, be it homework, books, stationery or water bottles). When this happens, it will be tempting to put everything aside and rush down to their rescue, but doing so is counter-productive in teaching our children to be responsible.
Instead, it is an opportunity for them to learn problem-solving skills, whether to borrow a pencil from their classmates or inform the teacher about forgotten homework or books. These little episodes of forgetting will help our children see the importance of paying attention and packing carefully. Soon, they will be packing their bags accurately and with confidence!