Taken from Growing Concerns -- A childrearing question-and-answer column with Dr. Martha Erickson

Question: Our daughter has been in a family day care home since she was a year old, but in a few weeks she will enter a more structured preschool program each morning. Are there things we can do to make the transition of moving from day care to school easier for her? (She will be picked up each day after preschool and taken to the day care home for the rest of the day.)

Answer: For children of all ages, knowing what to expect can help ease the anxiety of a new situation. Before your daughter starts preschool, take time to show her the school and, if possible, introduce her to the teachers. If you know other families whose children attend the school, arrange a play date with one of the children so your daughter will see a familiar face when she enters the classroom. Also, talk with her about activities she will do at the new school and explain how you've arranged for her to get to and from school. Let her know you will be eager to visit her at school after she gets settled there.

Your daughter's attitude toward school will be influenced strongly by your attitude. No doubt you've chosen this preschool carefully, so that's a good beginning. Once your daughter has started school, ask her to tell you about what she learned, whom she spent time with and what she liked most about her day. Encourage her child care provider to do the same. Ask to see the projects she's doing at school and display them in a place that shows you value her work. Also, communicate regularly with your daughter's teachers about her school experience, particularly her social behavior and emotional well-being, which are so important in this preschool period. If your job permits, volunteer occasionally to help in the classroom or chaperone a field trip. One of the most important factors accounting for school success is the active involvement of parents. What you do in these preschool years will set the pattern for your involvement at each stage of your daughter's education.

It is to your daughter's advantage that she will continue in her familiar child care setting. For preschool children, stability and continuity help them maintain feelings of security. Also, since she's already used to being way from you during the day, she probably has worked through the separation issues that challenge many young children when they first enter preschool or child care. Nonetheless, the schedule you describe makes for a busy day for a young child. Your daughter may get tired and cranky after a day with so many transitions--much the way parents can feel after a day of going from one meeting to another. It will be important to make sure she has plenty of time to just play, relax and snuggle with you at the end of a long day. For both adults and children, it is important to create a healthy balance between structured activities and "down time." In today's busy world, that starts early in a child's life.

Editor's Note: Dr. Martha Farrell Erickson, director of the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth and Family Consortium, invites your questions on child rearing for possible inclusion in this column. E-mail to mferick@tc.umn.edu or write to Growing Concerns, University of Minnesota News Service, 6 Morrill Hall, 100 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455.

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