Starting school this year? Here’s 5 tips to make the process easier for parents AND kids

Chances are you might be feeling totally fine about your child starting school.

You're excited, you've got your camera ready, and you can't wait to send them off. But you could also be slightly apprehensive though, and that's OK too. It's a big change in every parent's and child's life, after all. So, in order to make things go that little bit smoother in the run up to September, here are five tips to consider. 1. Chat to other parents  If you're feeling worried about sending your little one off to big school for the first time, don't think that you're alone because rest assured, you are absolutely not. Not everyone is in the same boat, but there definitely are a lot of others who are, and chatting to other mams and dads also letting their kids go off into the real world for the first time themselves can be a big help. Whether it's offloading your fears, discussing how best to navigate the school run, or just worrying about your child making friends, a bit 0f a chat can make everything seem less daunting. 2. See how your child is feeling about the change  After speaking to other parents going through similar changes, you should also speak to your little one too. Nothing major or serious or anything, just see how they're doing. Ask if they're excited to be starting school. See what they're looking forward to most. Seeing them hyped up for the big day will make everything go a lot smoother. 3. Plan ahead There's honestly nothing worse than waking up one day and realising that school starts next week and you haven't gotten a single thing ready. Literally a horror movie scenario. This situation is easily remedied though by simply planning ahead. Make a check list of all the things you absolutely need to have done before your child starts school - and make sure you chip away at that list well before the big day. Think things like sorting out uniforms, buying books, planning the school route, and figuring out what best way to prepare lunches in advance. It'll all help in the long run. 4. Don't stress out  We know, we know - this is way easier said than done. When a child is going off to school for the first time, it almost seems as if there are infinite things to stress about. Are they going to make friends? Are they going to be able for the work? Will they be OK being away from home for the day? The list goes on. No matter what the situation though, there are always going to be things to worry about, and unless your child has said that they are struggling in some way, then you can rest easy knowing that everything else is pretty much out of your control. Have a cup of tea, girl. It's going to be OK. 5. Accept your little one is growing up  No one's saying you need to wake up one day and realise that you're baby is becoming a, well, not-baby anymore. And no one's saying that you need to be immediately happy with that fact either. The transition from playschool to big school is huge. Apart from the jump between secondary school and college, it's probably one of the biggest leaps your child will ever make it terms of development. But that's just it - they're developing and ideally, you're going to have to develop alongside them. It might not be plain sailing and it might take you awhile you get used to it, but this next stage in their life is going to be incredibly exciting - for both of you.