• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • Meet Tara
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
    • Family Photography
    • PR & Advertising
    • Privacy Policy
  • CRAFT
    • Edible Food Crafts
    • Fabric Crafts
    • Home Decor
    • Kids
    • Papercrafts
    • Party DIY
    • Printables
    • SVG Cut Files
    • Wearables
  • PARTY
    • Baby
    • Birthday
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Father’s Day
    • Halloween / Fall
    • Mother’s Day
    • Patriotic / Summer
    • School / Grad
    • St Patricks Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Wedding
  • Home
    • Basement / Garage
    • Bathroom
    • Bedroom
    • Entryway
    • Kitchen
    • Living Room
    • Office
    • Outdoors
  • LIFE
    • Blog Life
    • Favorite Products
    • Organization
    • Parenting
    • Travel
Spot of Tea Designs

Spot of Tea Designs

Things Learned as a Parent of a Kindergartner

in Lifestyle, Parenting

DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this post contain affiliate links, which come at no cost to you. Know that I only promote products I personally use and stand behind. To learn more about my affiliates, please review my disclosure policy here.

This June I finished up my first year as an elementary school parent, specifically as the parent of a kindergartner. I had been keeping notes on things I learned or was surprised about during the year to help fellow parents who will be experiencing the same situation in upcoming years. From clothing options to meltdowns to being amazed at their growth, keep reading to see what I learned as a parent of a kindergartner. 

Things i learned a parent of a kindergartner | spotofteadesigns.com

Remember that Brielle’s birthday is in August so she is young for her age. I felt that it really showed, not on her maturity but on the milestones kids seemed to be hitting or things they knew that she did not. I still felt she was ready for kindergarten and would not have held her back by any means but here are some things I learned this past year.  

  • Stock their wardrobe with all the colors. There are so many themed days at school and different reasons to wear specific colors or accessories. This isn’t just true of a kindergartner but any year of elementary school. We slowly added more colors to her closet and we often added colorful hair chalk to fit the theme!
  • Put the themed days on your calendar. Our family uses a shared google calendar so once they announced a new month and the themed days, I added them on the calendar for 7am that morning. There had been a day or two we missed in the beginning and she was NOT happy about missing the silly fun.
Class of Graduation Year Tshirts - download the free SVG file of all numbers to make your own! | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Find your tribe. Sure your child is learning their way, making friends, but it’s just as important for you as a parent to make friends with those parents too. I’m happy Brielle found a few girls who became friends outside of the classroom and had cool parents we like to hang out with it! There was more than one occasion this year where we as families helped another family, whether it was a car ride, school drop off situation, borrowing something or just watching out for the other child in a group situation. These are the kids they will be in school with for the next 13 years so invest in the families as well!
  • Pack snacks, snacks and more snacks. Brielle’s pre-k always ate lunch around noon which is about the time we ate even on the weekends. This had been her routine for the first 5 years of life. In kindergarten, they had a snack in the morning but didn’t eat lunch until around 1:15pm! I made sure her morning snack was super filling and even started throwing in extra snacks for her lunch. When she came home from school she would be just as hungry as ever and still wanted more snacks! Our house never seems to be full of enough variety of fresh fruit, dairy and dried snacks for this hungry girl!
  • Be prepared for more afternoon meltdowns. At least for the first few months. The transition of a full time kindergarten class, which had no quiet time, like she was used to at her pre-k, was a was rough one for our girl. She has been prone to night terrors when stressed or overwhelmed and we hit a high on those occurrences in October. She slowly got used to the long school days, but the fall was rough! 
Kids artwork and paperwork storage boxes | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Figure out a system for all the papers. There are SO MANY papers that come home! Things they draw, printed worksheets and even things drawn by other friends! Brielle’s teacher had a folder system so each afternoon I’d look in her folder to see what came home.  I made choices and worked on an organization system to keep our favorites. I opted to take photos of many of her drawings or handwriting examples and will put together a photobook of her creations that takes up a smaller footprint than keeping them all. You can learn more about my artwork and paperwork storage solution here!
  • You’ll be amazed by what they remember and learn and what they don’t. Brielle famously doesn’t have the greatest memory.  So when she pulls out some obscure thought or activity from the day I’m super impressed. Meanwhile some days she can’t remember one thing to share.  Also, don’t expect to get anything out of them right after school. They need that initial time to decompress and settle down (usually with a snack) before sharing about their day.
  • Friends are influential. Brielle’s always had friends in her daycare and cousins her age. But they never seemed to have that much of an influence on her likes/dislikes and preferences. It all seemed to click and change in kindergarten where she grew a love of unicorns, knew the difference between a caticorn and allicorn, and was all of a sudden interested in buying lunch and losing teeth, all because of friends. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg on what her friends teach her!
  • Learn when they take the class photo. Brielle’s school has 2 class photo sessions – one in the fall and one in the spring. We pre-ordered and were prepared for the fall ones as the standard seated photo but I wanted to opt out of the spring seated session. Little did I know the spring photo sessions was when they take the group class photo we ordered in the fall! My daughter will always be known as the girl with the rain boots in her kindergarten class photo as she didn’t think to change to the extra shoes she brought in on that rainy day.
Favorite products for a 5 year old girl | spotofteadesigns.com

While you’re here, take a look at our Favorite Products for a 5 year old post which includes toys, games, educational items and accessories she loves!

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

in Lifestyle, Parenting

Spotofteadesigns.com Signature Design showing ways to socially follow this DIY/Parenting blogSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on twitter. Username: spotofteadesignSOTD2019SignatureFollow4FacebookSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on pinterest. Username: spotofteadesignSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on instagram. Username: spotofteadesignsSpotofteadesigns.com Signature

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. SugarPartiesLA says

    July 16, 2019 at 7:39 am

    Thank you for the tips and sharing the fun games ! I put the thin ice game in my amazon cart because I think my boys would love it. Also, my son starts kindergarten this year and I feel like I more nervous than he is.

    Reply
    • Spot of Tea Designs says

      July 16, 2019 at 7:51 am

      It’s a big change but he will have so much fun! My daughter really misses it this summer so we’re both looking forward to September :)

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Meet Tara

You can probably find me in my craft room, in front of a computer or behind the camera lens.
LEARN MORE

EMAIL NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

Sign up and be the first to know about new posts filled with printables, svg cut file designs and gift ideas!

Privacy Policy

EASTER INSPO

Easter baskets ideas for tween girls age 7 and 9 | Spotofteadesigns.com
Easter bunny money hugger printable tags | spotofteadesigns.com
DIY paper crafted carrot cupcake toppers for a no bake easter dessert | spotofteadesigns.com
Hip Hop Hooray Easter Canvas | spotofteadesigns.com
Spring and Easter svg and pdf files - flower lollipops | spotofteadesigns.com
Shop the Spot of Tea Designs Amazon Store front | spotofteadesigns.com

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Tara Nehil is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

LATEST GRAMS

Cut, curl, assemble, and enjoy! . Use my svg cut Cut, curl, assemble, and enjoy! 
.
Use my svg cut file to make lollipop flowers this spring! 
.
.
.
.
https://spotofteadesigns.com/flower-lollipop-centerpiece-svg-cut-file/
.
#spotofteadesigns #svg #eastertreats #eastercrafts #cricut #cricutcrafts #cricutcreations #cricutcreated #paperflowers #cardstock #lollipop
Here's what the Easter Bunny is bringing my 7.5 an Here's what the Easter Bunny is bringing my 7.5 and 9.5 year old girls:
🐇 Magic 8 ball
🐇 Flip flops and romper from @oldnavy 
🐇 Skort from @landsend 
🐇 Water bottle and activity book @fivebelow 
🐇 Chocolate bunny
🐇 Sunglasses (linked in stories!)
.
All details on my blog --> https://spotofteadesigns.com/easter-basket-ideas-for-tween-girls/
.
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #eastertreats #easterbasketideas #easterbasket #tween #tweengirl #basketideas #giftbasket #giftidea #girlmom #momlife #childhoodunplugged #lethembelittle
I was never one to be a big Easter decor person, b I was never one to be a big Easter decor person, but lately I've been "team bunny" with a spring feel and starting to add some hints in my decor. Here's one I made last year
.
.
Details on this canvas and svg file --> https://spotofteadesigns.com/hip-hop-hooray-easter-canvas/
Couldn't let the day set without another rainbow t Couldn't let the day set without another rainbow themed creation on your feed!
.
Find the tutorial for this easy dimensional heart shadowbox on the @custompictureframes blog!
Dirt cake cup recipe - Make @jello chocolate insta Dirt cake cup recipe
- Make @jello chocolate instant pudding by following recipe on the box (AKA milk with cold milk)
- Fold in @coolwhip topping
- Layer in cups with crushes @oreo 
- Decorate with your topping of choice!
.
How have you dressed up a dirt cake in the past?
.
.
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #dirtcake #dirtcup #playwithyourfood #cutefood #partyfood #eastertreats #instaparty #desserttable #sugarhigh #oreo
📢 Cute Easter gift alert 📢 . My printable bu 📢 Cute Easter gift alert 📢
.
My printable bunny money hugger is a great way to be extra this Easter and gift the kids something they really want. Print, cut, and roll in some bunny money for your teenager. 
.
Leave a 🐇 if you need the link sent via DM.
.
.
https://spotofteadesigns.com/easter-bunny-money-huggers/
.
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #eastertreats #eastertag #easterbasketideas #easterbasket #printable #moneyholders #easterwishes #digitaldownload
Follow on Instagram
2021 © Spot of Tea Designs
made by soulmuse