Hi mamas!! My oldest is starting Kindergarten on Monday. I'm excited for the next "phase" but I'm also sad and don't like it that she's growing up so fast.
My question though is what are some things you do for your kids, like special things you may put in their lunch boxes, or things like that just as an I love you that they can find sometime during the day while they are at school? Also any lunch tips or anything like that would be great. I love to do little surprises for my kids so I would love to hear things other moms do for their kids. :)
My daughter is 20 now but are back to school traditions are: 1) back to school special dinner the night before, usually out; 2) special note in lunch box; and her favorite 3) ice cream after first day of school. We did the dinner and after school ice cream all the way through high school. She's in college now and we still do dinner before school starts.
My oldest is a first grader this year. We started school yesterday. I was informed that "Mary's mom puts notes in her lunch box, but you have to use small words mom, not big words, I'm only in first grade"...
So yesterday I say "have a good day"...today was "you are sweet"...and tomorrow I'm going to have lunch with her.
Other things that we do:
1.on the first day of school I make a special breakfast for everyone (we are a cereal, bagel morning kind of group)
2. This weekend we are going to get her the "feather" for her hair. I don't about your area but it's huge here with all the kids.
3. Everyday I pay attention to the notes from the teacher on the things they did that day...and ask her question specific questions. Like yesterday we talked about "exploding words" and "tricky vowels". She told me all about them and was so excited. We have CAMP (Computers, Art, Music, PE)...I ask very specific quesitons about those.
4. We always read the library books the first night together and then she can read them on her own. (She was not ready last year at this time but by Christmas she could identify popcorn words)
5. We live a block from school on nice days she walks with Dad and Bubbie.
Good luck and don't be surprised if she says "mom you can go now" when you take her into class.
Im going through the same! My son starts monday! I'm going to put a family pic in his lunchbox. And pack his favorite a tuna with hummus roll up! Then to celebrate his first day we are going to play mini golf! Good luck on your daughters first day!
We read a lot of first day of kindergarten books beforehand that got them excited. I would make a little picture on their lunch napkin with a heart. Also, I am sure you have done this, but we got a special backpack, folder, outfit etc. Then on the way we did special 1st day pictures outside.
My suggestions is to sometimes have her dad also send her a note or draw a picture for her lunch box. Our daughter would get so excited the few times he did this, when I remembered to ask my husband to send her something..
FYI, He used to tape notes on her pencils.. she liked that too.
I send in my kids favorite snacks and switch it up. I also eash the plastic ware to conserve $$ but if it is thrown out I could care less I put stickers on their Plastic ware (Spiderman, Scooby, Butterfly) tape a picture of the family in their lunch box. Different one through out the year. When they can ready I send notes but nothing embarrasing incase their friends find it.
When you kiss her goodbye, also kiss her palm so she will "have one for later." My granddaughter loves this!
hubby always puts a 'thought for the day' or a little reminder on his napkin in the lunch box.
I love these containers. They have ice packs in the lid that keep the food cold all day and the food doesn't get smooched.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11537951
If you are into being green, these are biodegradable
http://www.amazon.com/World-Centric-Starch-Spoons-24-Piec...
If you send foods that need spoons, there are some spoons that are shorter then normal, in the same aisle as the others, and fit into lunch boxes better. Or even a spork. No knives.
Make sure your child is able to open all items by herself. If she has to wait for the lunch room assistant, she'll lose eating time.
Reminder her to NOT put half eaten meat sandwhiches back into her lunch box.
If you are going to send a food that has an after smell - tuna, chinese food, etc., also include a tic tac.
My kids love it when I write little notes on their napkins. They also like it if I use cookie cutters to make the sandwich a shape. Occasionally I will toss into the lunch box a small piece of candy or special sweet treat that they love.
We did two things: 1. We write a note on a napkin just about every day..."you are smart/awesome/a good friend/etc" and 2. we sent a picture of the family in her back pack that she could look at to remember that we were all with her and all supported her. Hope this helps!
