Start of week 4 and still not settled
jlw2505
member
My older DD started kindergarten about 4 weeks ago and I still feel like she is not settled and used to the new routine yet. She did great the 1st week but then I noticed some behavioral changes which I expected and feel are totally normal but I thought by now, we would be back to our normal (whatever that really is). This morning was the worst - she woke up happy but said her tummy hurt which she says 99% of mornings as she is just really hungry. I got her moving and dressed and she was totally happy until it was time to get shoes on. Total behavior shift. My DH took over at that point as she drives to school on Mondays and I had to start work. It took him 20 mins to get her into the car. Once the car was moving she was totally fine and did fine at drop off but WOW - this was bad. I just happened to talk to her teacher on Friday (she had emailed me about something and I asked how my DD was doing) and she told me she is doing great. I have no clue what is going on.
How long did it take for your kindergartener to adjust and settle into school?
Oh and my DD has been in daycare/preschool since she was an infant and did PreK at this school, full time and she knows the school and teachers and a decent number of the kids in her class were with her last new. Its a new teacher and classroom.
Re: Start of week 4 and still not settled
My 5 year old started this month in SK (senior kindergarten) at the same school but a new classroom and also french immersion. No english in class. Hello!
He's adapting but it is taking time. He's both exhausted at the end of the day and busting with physical energy. I try to roll with it. At bedtime I make a point of talking about school, how proud we are of him, asking him to count in french or tell us some words he knows, stuff like that.
I expect things to fell more normal by Hallowe'en or so. It's a big leap, a big change and I've got to do my part on my end to help him make the transition.
Even though my DS was already 6 when he started K, and he had been going to 1/2 day preschool for 2 full years, it was a big adjustment. Every year I forget how tired he gets by the end of the week for the first month or 6 weeks. By 7:30 pm on Friday, he'd be drooping.
Many of my mom friends whose kids were in F/T daycare were surprised that their kids still had a significant adjustment to kindergarten. They expected it would be no biggie, because the kids had been doing this full day thing for many years. I think the difference is that in most daycare settings, even if the 4 and 5 year old classes have preschool sort of built into the day, the kids have a lot more unstructured playtime. In most full day K classes, there's very little downtime, and the expectations for kids to be "on task" are really high.
I'm guessing that your DD has realized that school is a lot of... well... work. And not so much fun, now that the year is really off to a start.
Hang in there! She'll settle in!