The Gowrie Broadmeadows Valley team have six strategies to help families with the drop-off routine to make the process easier.
What challenges do you experience during drop-off routine at your service? Maybe the child feels some separation anxiety and doesn’t want the parent/carer to leave, or perhaps they simply don’t want to attend kinder. These are just some of the observations made by the teachers and educators at Gowrie Broadmeadows Valley.
By having conversations with families about the way their children feel while being dropped off at Gowrie, the ECTs came together to discuss strategies that could help make the drop-off routine for families a little easier.
“We came together and found that for new children, and at the beginning of the year, drop offs are something that children and parents/carers may need some support with,” says Leslie, Educational Leader. “We came up with some strategies that could be used to support drop-offs.”
“We had a child who started earlier this year who had never been separated from his mum before, so attending kinder at Gowrie was his first experience away from her,” says Leslie. “His first couple of weeks at drop-offs he was emotional and had a hard time seeing his mum leave, and so, together with his mum, we created a drop-off routine that we used every day he attended and now his drop-offs are smooth and happy.” Leslie said that this included having his mum speak to him about kinder the night before and morning of, having a hug at the door, saying goodbye at the window, and laying on the cushions in the regulation area until he was ready to play.
Leslie says that having a consistent drop-off routine helps the child become familiar with the pattern and feel more at ease. “This might include the child being guided to the same or similar experience each time they enter or greeted by the same educator each morning,” he says.
