For those of you who’ve done a lot of babysitting, was it difficult for you when the “baby” was suddenly grown up enough to start kindergarten? As exhausting as it’s been, I am already dreading when our older GD starts school in August.
I’m also concerned about GD’s placement. The school will permit older 4s (5th birthday between 9/1 and 12/31) to start K5 instead of waiting until the next year. GD is big for her age and probably is ready for the academic side of school, but in other ways she’s quite young yet. I was hoping she could attend a half-day K4 in the fall, but the school discontinued that program and now her parents are pushing for her to attend K5, which the school seems to support.
You can be a grandparent volunteer at school. At my kids’ school it required a training class, but then they were thrilled to have any help they could get. Library, lunch duty (how are you at opening prepackaged items?), playground? They love it if you can be flexible and not only volunteer for your GD’s class but any class. In my kids’ specific classrooms they had parent readers a few times a week and some art class helpers. If you can only do Tuesdays, that is fine.
A friend (who does not have grandchildren) has a babysitting job in her neighborhood. I know they have 2 kids and she’ll do nights, but also an occasional all day shift. Friend is a maniac and always has something going on, but likes this babysitting job when she can fit it in.
Yes, I’d like to do that. It may only be one day a week since we’ll be babysitting the younger GD, too. I hope to also be able to pick up from school a couple of days a week, especially in warm/hot months so she can swim with us before going home.
GD5, with a November b-day, missed the public school kindergarten cutoff (end of September), which is in a way too bad because her very close in age cousin and some friends are now a year ahead of her. But she doesn’t seem fazed about it, and attends TK (Transitional Kindergarten) at her pre-school 9-3, before heading off to all-day actual kindergarten next year. She’s very bright and advanced in a lot of ways, but also, extremely sensitive and probably better off with the extra time for developing resiliency.
GS, almost three, is going to attend all day preschool next year (he’s only going three days for three hours this year.) His town has expanded availability, so D will be saving a lot of money by switching to public. I’m okay with that; I have some personal goals that have been on the backburner the last two years, and I’ll still be around for sick days, holidays, etc when needed.
Our oldest granddaughter is 4 (will be 5 in May) started Transitional Kindergarten (9-3 every day) at the public school this year. Wednesdays are only half days her parents still need help with drop offs and pick ups. And they are starting to figure out what they will do when she is off all summer.
It’s actual kindergarten, and just how this school differentiates between pre-K (they call K4) and kindergarten (K5.) The kids wear uniforms, take classes in art, Spanish, computers, etc. in addition to their regular classes. They do have a rest time after their (pretty early) lunch, but only until Christmas break. I don’t recall much about my kindergarten, but H says his was mainly indoor play, story time, recess, and snacks plus a nap.
It seems like a lot if she’s not quite ready, but if the teachers at the school know her, they probably feel that they can help her catch up in the areas where she might need a little extra attention.
Our S was 5% for height and weight but very bright. He was challenged in figuring social situations. The pediatrician and his preschool teacher said he’d benefit from the preschool JR K, where he would be with other late-born kids (he was born in Nov).
Because we held S back and D (also born in Nov and also 5% for height & weight), we decided to hold D back and have her in JR K too.
For S it was good to give him more time to improve social skills. For D, it was good to give her more time to hone academic skills. We have no regrets.
GS2 has 8/31 birthday, so no challenge in his schooling. He will follow older siblings in their current school when the time comes, first K4 and then kindergarten. All the other kids have birthdays in May, June, and July, with GS1 July 5. Sometimes they consider boys to need the extra time if they are a summer birthday, but that may have been before one is in educational settings prior to kindergarten. K4 has become very important as there are more expectations with many kindergarten programs, and is good for kids w/o other exposure to educational things (like parent reading to the child, educational toys, etc.).
2 yo would most likely love the sand table, but my D would kill me if that was ever a gift from me. Daycare promotes sand play and GD comes home with sand in her shoes and socks frequently and D grumbles just as frequently about the mess. My almost 4 yo GD really loved her water table around that age.
My daughter said they don’t need anything. That was the same response we got last year. Last year we did get the water table. He goes to preschool and my daughter loves that all the messy play gets done at school.
Might some books be a good option? I often buy a book or small gift and give a nice check. The parents seem to love that and the kid is fine with anything new and different.
Around that age, gave two little ones a small indoor tent-type toy. They both spent hours and hours in their own little space. The neighbor still has the tent up in the living room and continues playing in it.
I love the book suggestion that @HImom made. We give a lot of books.
There’s an American bike manufacturer, Guardian, that makes little 12" balance bikes for 1.5 yrs+. Would you GS like that? There’s also a US-manufacturer of trikes, Dirt King, but their trikes seem a bit big for <3 yrs old.
H built a sturdy frame to hold two swings and installed it in our GDs’ backyard. We started with Little Tikes baby swings and replaced them as the girls grew. Would your D be okay with that? Or maybe a Little Tikes/Step2 playhouse set up in your GS’s backyard or home would be enjoyed. We did one that has a pretend grill.
