How to choose a kindergarten for your child?
Beginnings are very beautiful, but they are also so hard and full of challenges and difficulties because it’s your first trial. The Important moment of your kid to join the kindergarten has come and you feel happy that he will start a new journey in his life but you have worries and many questions such as: How should I choose the best kindergarten for him? How will he get used to the kindergarten? Will he feel unsafe for leaving his home for the first time? and more and more of questions that we will answer in this blog…
The kindergarten is the first academic place that your kid goes to and it’s the first step in his future, so you have to choose it carefully because the early childhood forms your child’s
personality. Here are a group of steps that will help you to choose the best kindergarten for your kid:
Standards you should pay attention to before visiting the kindergarten:
During the stage of thinking and searching for a kindergarten for your kid, you will find plenty of choices and suggestions, so you should set a group of questions to ask before visiting the kindergarten
- The working hours and if it suits your working hours.
- The kindergarten’s location should be near your house.
- The Kindergarten’s fees.
- Does the kindergarten provide buses and round trips?
And then arrange a visit and take your child with you. In fact, this visit is so important because you can decide after this visit whether to choose this kindergarten or not, so you have to be observant and pay attention to the following details:
Standards you should follow while visiting the kindergarten:
- Observe / Watch the kids in the kindergarten. Are they involved in the environment and happy or not?
- The teachers and their engagement with the students. Are they natural or overacting?
- The classrooms, students’ numbers in each class, and their seating plan in the class. Are they setting in a circle or separated?
- The kindergarten’s cleanliness.
- The fun & activities place in the kindergarten.
- The safety in the kindergarten and the activities places and
the games are safe? - Is the kindergarten divided into organized departments and is there an individual department for each activity?
- Are the kids having the ability to choose their favorite activities and games to participate in?
These things you can watch with your eyes. However, there are other concerns you have to ask about and talk with the kindergarten’s management about it:- The curriculum: In this point, we don’t mean the academic curriculum only because it is very simple in the first years but we also mean the methodology of playing because the games in this period are not for fun only but the aim to teach your kids, give them new information, improve the good communication with others, and teach them the teamwork spirit. You should ask if the kindergarten uses the methodology of free games?
Does the student design and create new things in these games?
The student’s daily schedule and how the kindergarten makes the best of his time?
The ways of communication between you and the kindergarten. Are they electronic, meetings, via phone, using system/portal.
It is very important for the kindergarten to provide easy and ongoing ways of communication so that the parent could observe their children and provide feedback to the kindergarten.
The communication way with the teachers.
How to prepare my kid for kindergarten?
The kid joins the kindergarten approximately at 3 years old and this is considered young age for the kid to adapt to a new environment, so in the beginning, you should understand his
worries about this new place and you should prepare him early for this stage by following these steps
- Talk to him about the kindergarten and how it is a great place to play in and have friends.
- Watch videos with him for kids who are spending happy times in their kindergarten.
- Listen to all of his ideas about the kindergarten.
- Tell him tales about people in the kindergarten.
- Let him spend time with the others and spend time far from home in his grandma or grandpa’s house and time in the club to get used to engaging with others.
- Take him to many visits to the kindergarten to know the teachers and students and feel familiar with the kindergarten.
- Create a daily routine for him including sleep early and wake up early too.
How to prepare your kid for the first day in kindergarten?
The academic year is near and you have to say goodbye to your kid for hours to spend a good time in his kindergarten with new
friends and teachers and you have any thoughts right now that hit your mind. Let us help you to arrange a good day:
- Prepare his new clothes at night before the first day in kindergarten.
- Prepare a lovely lunch box for him full of healthy sandwiches.
- Talk to his new teacher and tell him more about your child’s special routine and characteristics so that he can deal with them in a good way.
Applying these steps shall make your kid’s day happy and make him love his kindergarten but are these steps easy all the time? of course not as the kids differ and their personalities vary. There are some kids who adapt to any community fast and others who resist and worry about any new place.
My kid cries in kindergarten what should I do?
When your kid starts for the first time to spend most of his day away from his house and family, it makes it hard to accept.
It is normal to expect your kid to cry in his first days in kindergarten as he is afraid of this unknown place and people. So relax and accept it, it’s normal. However, you should:·
Make him spend 2 hours only in the kindergarten in his first days.
- Increase the time he spends in the kindergarten step by step.
- If he cries in the kindergarten, don’t take him back home.
- Talk to his teachers about how far he gets used to the kindergarten.
And now after reading this blog post write down your own steps and priorities and get ready for this important decision.
In Rowad Alkhaleej International Schools we have 2 branches for Baraem Rowad Alkhaleej International Kindergarten, one of them is located in Sahafa – Riyadh and the other one is located in Dhahran.
What makes Baraem Rowad Alkhaleej International Kindergarten Special?
We are accredited by Cognia international educational organization.
- We provide American Curriculum (Pearson)
- Certified Native teachers.
- We provide a Skyward portal for parents to follow their kid’s progress.
- Interactive educational ways and the buildings are well prepared with the latest techniques such as the smart boards, the tablets… etc.
- We provide an “Installment 0%” program to install without interest with a group of Saudi banks.
- We provide Saudi bus mentors to take care of the student and to maintain safety.
- We apply “Leader in Me” program.
Be ready for your next step with hope and optimism because it’s your kid’s success story.