The Scrapbook

At new entrant level, there’s no expectation of academic ability, but there are signs you can look for as an indication of your child's readiness to start school, as well as things you can do to help them prepare to become a confident schoolkid. Three experts give their practical tips.

It’s a total mystery for me how one morning I can run a tight ship and the next morning, it’s a pirate ship. The timings are the same, the conditions vary only a little ... why is it a total scramble one morning and not on others? 

It seems like there may never be a sense of ‘getting back to normal’, but there are things we can do to create a sense of predictability, consistency and continuity for our kids, even in an unpredictable world that seems to be changing all the time. 

How do you know if your child is really ready to start school? Here are 5 questions you can think about to help figure out if your child can handle the practical and social demands of joining the school environment. 

If you're thinking about your child starting school, getting back to school after lockdown, moving schools, or just handling separation anxiety, making a 'Smile Stone' can be a helpful and easy thing you can do that empowers kids with a sense of control over the situation they’re in.

Kids ask the curliest questions, and almost always without warning. 'Is Santa real?' is one of those doozies! But, we're here to help.

Making a mistake is simply that – a mis-take – an indication we need to make a course correction. Seeing mistakes as failures can grind us to a halt, but seeing them as course corrections keep us looking, and moving forward.

Don't jump in too soon. While it’s tempting to jump in and resolve conflict between our kids, with a little bit of time and dialogue we can create an opportunity that teaches them tools for naming their feelings, problem-solving and resolving their differences in the future ...

I still remember my parents exclaiming in frustration, “We’ve brought you here to enjoy yourself!” No doubt I would have been mid-whinge about the travel, the activity, the snacks, or any number of things that weren’t meeting my expectations ...