How to tell your child is settling in

Signs it's going grand

• They can name at least one child in the class, even if they're not best friends yet.
• They roughly know the order of the day and can tell you what comes after yard.
• Some of the lunch gets eaten. Some days. We're not asking for miracles. 🥕
• Mornings are trending easier over weeks, even if individual mornings are a disaster.
• They mention the teacher by name without being asked. Usually mid-sentence, about something unrelated.

Normal things that terrify parents unnecessarily

• Total exhaustion and enormous meltdowns at home while being reportedly angelic in school. Holding it together all day costs them everything they've got, and you get the bill at 4pm. 😮‍💨
• No news whatsoever. 'I can't remember' is the standard five-year-old answer to 'what did you do today?'
• Regression: baby voice, night waking, accidents, wanting to be carried up the stairs. It usually fades over the first term.
• Playing alone. Parallel play is completely age-appropriate and friendships form slowly at this age.

Getting actual information out of them

Ask narrow questions, later in the evening, while you're both doing something else. 'Who did you sit beside?' 'What was the loudest thing today?' 'Did anything annoy you?' Big open questions at the gate, when they're starving and fried, will get you a shrug and possibly a shoe thrown. 🤷

When to raise it with the school

Ring or email the class teacher if distress isn't easing by around six weeks, if your child says they've nobody to play with over several weeks, if they're coming home starving every day because lunch isn't being eaten, or if their behaviour has changed sharply. Teachers would genuinely rather hear from you early, and the first parent-teacher meeting might not be until well into the year. 💛