How to settle your child into their new school happily!

If you are dreading the new school term because your little darling is starting school or nursery, worry no more. There are some great ways that you can help your child to settle in as easy as possible that will help to relieve your anxiety and your child’s stress. Whether or not you have prepared your child really well in advance, that first day always seems to come quicker than you thought and no matter what, you can never be totally sure of their reactions on the day. You can however be ready to handle any crying or upset to ease them into school the best you can, by having a ‘Goodbye Routine’. Before you make a plan of your routine, you really need to find out the schools policy on arrivals, as some children gather in the playground and some go into their classroom. If however you don’t know on the day just ask at the school office or your child’s teacher will tell you. These tried and tested tips will help you to make the transition easier for you and your child and settle them in the fastest easiest way you can.


1 Arrive in plenty of time and allow yourself time to settle your child into the playground or classroom as rushing around although unavoidable sometimes is not very helpful on their first day and can add to stress levels. Help them to hang up their coat and put their belongings away, if possible, although you may have to wave them off in the playground or at the door.

2 Say hello to their teacher and encourage your child to do the same, this will help your child to connect with another adult and help them to feel more secure. It is also important to gain acknowledgement that you have passed your child’s care over to the relevant person. In a few weeks or days, once your child has settled in and they are more confident, you will find that they will probably just go off to play with their friends instead when they arrive.

3 Do what everyone else does and if the other children are all sitting on the carpet waiting for the teacher or at their desks, encourage your child to do the same. If you are allowed into the cloakroom, help your child to take their coat off and hang it up, as all those pegs can be very daunting.

4 Say goodbye, give them a kiss a positive smile and leave quickly when it is time to leave, because if you stay should they cry you will accidentally reward the behaviour and they will soon realise the easy way to get to prolong your departure. I have settled hundreds of children into nursery or school (not all my own I must say) and have found that it is always best tell your child as opposed to sneaking off when they are not looking. That’s not to say that they won’t cry, but they will trust you more and learn the routine much easier and be more confident faster.

5 Pass them to a member of staff if they start to cry and don’t be afraid to ring the school in half an hour or so to ask if they have settled down. You can ring the school office to ask them to check with the teacher as there is no point you worrying all day when you can have your mind put at ease. You would be surprised how many parent’s do this, so don’t suffer and ruin your day, especially when your child is likely to have settled and be having a great time.

If you would like more information like this and ideas of how to cope with the first few weeks and staying involved with your child’s progress please stay tuned to my blog!

4 great ways “NOT” to make positive changes in your child’s behaviour.

Are you having difficulties with your child’s behaviour? Do you feel like you are going round in circles and you would like to end the stress that their unwanted behaviour causes? Do you feel like it is your children’s fault and if only your partner did things right everything would be better and why should you make positive changes if know one else will?

If you want to make sure that you don’t make any positive changes (at least until someone else does) here are 4 great ways you can do it!

1 Be resistant!

No matter who tells you that they know the secret to children’s good behaviour, don’t listen, it’s all rubbish and what you are doing already works for you so why listen to them! Stand firm in your convictions and don’t be the change you want to see, regardless of what Ghandi says.

2 Be negative!

Don’t listen to those people who say that like energy attracts like energy. It’s ok to shout, scream, belittle and smack your children because you know in your heart of hearts that you can be negative to them and they will miraculously produce the positive behaviour that you want from them in return. You can just be confident knowing that you will be nice to them when and only when they finally behave as you want!

3 Tell your children to do as you say not as you do!

My father gave me sound advice (although we don’t see each other anymore, don’t know why) but you may like to heed his wise words. If you are in a bad mood, being disrespectful to others and not trying you’re hardest, when your child pulls you up and says that it’s not fare, remember to tell them that they must ‘Do as you say and not as you do! (I am glad to say it works every time).

4 Put off what you can do today, that which you can do tomorrow (at least until you have more money).

If you feel justified in knowing that today is not a good day to make positive changes stick to your convictions because you must have a good reason, you may like lots of parent’s you have no time, no money, it’s not your fault, you working to hard, you don’t know how or why you should? True?

Ha ha, OK, jokes over, it made me laugh for a while, but really and truly these are often reasons why we don’t make positive changes in our life. However I know that it’s no good looking at what we don’t want in our life because we get more of what we are focussing on. So let’s turn that around and see what would you have to do to make positive changes in your child’s behaviour, I’ll let you fill in the blanks.

1-----Open to new ideas
2 -----Positive
3 Set a good---------------
4 Start-------------------

If you want to make positive changes in your child’s behaviour start today! you can download ‘A Parent’s Guide to Children’s Behaviour’ within minutes! http://tinyurl.com/2urxdzm

Have a great day! Ruth :)

Child Behaviour Direct

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my new blog! I am planning on using it as a way to keep posting information and articles about children's behaviour and what is going on with Child Behaviour Direct.

Please keep in contact with me, it's not so hard these days and you can do it in several ways.

1 Facebook, yes good old facebook seems to be working very well in helping people connect. Why not join me at the Child Behaviour Direct group http://tinyurl.comCBDfacebook.

2 Sign up for my free newsletter and 'Transform your child's behaviour', video series. You can do this from my website at www.childbehaviourdirect.com You will also find lots of free parenting resources and information of courses that I offer and you can buy my book, A Parents Guide to Children's Behaviour, http://tinyurl.com/yds3gqq.


3 Email me at childbehaviourdirect.com and let me know if I can help you in anyway
Best wishes

Ruth