preschooler Archives - Farmhouse Chic Blog

I am part of an AWESOME mommy panel with Cassie from Two In Diapers and Julie from Naptime Review.

Each Saturday, we will bring you fresh new ideas and advice about motherhood.

If you enjoyed what you read, we encourage you to tweet about it!

Coming on May 4th, we will discuss:

Favorite Things about Being a Mom

Now on to this week’s topic!

How To Teach Preschoolers Personal Space and Boundaries

Here is what Mom Connection shared:

Welcome! I’m Julie over at Naptime Review. I am a mom of two wild, crazy and beautiful girls. My oldest is 4 and my baby is 20 months old. How To Teach Preschoolers Personal Space and Boundaries:

Lately, I have been struggling with trying to teach Averie that not everyone likes to be touched and not everyone likes people in their faces. At times, I feel like a broken record. I even caught myself quoting the lines of Dirty Dancing (This is my dance space, This is your dance space…) to get my point across. Years ago, when I was in high school my mom and I were watching a show that had preschoolers walk the halls in hula hoops as a way to teach personal space and boundaries. Since, then my mom and I often giggle and joke when people are too close we say, “hula hoop!” Joking aside, I think playing games and using fun is a great tool to help model personal space. Preschoolers aren’t aware of the personal space of themselves or others. It is important as parents to model personal space and boundaries and to teach children how to interact with others. It is also important to praise, praise, praise when your child is respecting someone’s personal space. Positive reinforcement is a great tool! Click; here for more great suggestions and games to play with your preschoolers. I also found these great picture books to help children understand the importance of personal space. I just purchased Personal Space Camp Activity and Idea Book and Hands Are Not for Hitting .

Hi! I’m Cassie from Two In Diapers, and I’m a mommy to three sweet babies, ages 5, 3, and 20 months. How To Teach Preschoolers Personal Space and Boundaries:

This is something that we are seriously struggling with at the moment! We are at this awkward stage with three preschoolers at one time, which means they are all home pretty often. We are also quickly outgrowing our house and hoping to move soon, which means everyone is currently getting in each others’ hair!

When I can tell that my children have just spent too much time with each other and are fighting over everything, I usually try to plant them in different areas of the house with different activities: one in the living room with a basket of blocks, one in their room with books and one in the family room with coloring books, or something along those lines. I think this usually helps them realize that having their own space and staying out of others’ is actually a pretty nice thing.

With any other forms of invading each others’ space, luckily we are still at the phase where distraction is usually pretty successful. I find that when one child is getting in the others’ face or just plain bugging them, it is because they’re bored and need help finding something else to do.

What is your advice? I could definitely use some more tips in this department!

My name is Alexa from No Holding Back. I am the mom of Nayner Bug (male, 5), Jelly Bean, (female, 3) and Tiny (female, 1) How To Teach Preschoolers Personal Space and Boundaries:

To be honest I do not know if I have ever thought specifically of what I am doing to teach this to my children. I instill every day elements of respect and manners with the children. I try to correct on the spot behavior issues that are violations of personal space and boundaries, such as interrupting adults when they are talking, or climbing all over people. I think these are things that are taught by constant repetition and demonstration, and best taught in the moment. Since a preschooler has no general concept about personal space and boundaries, they have to be shown. And of course one of the best ways to do that is to make them think about how they feel when someone invades their personal space or breaks boundaries that make them uncomfortable.

My name is Fotini! I blog over at Glamorous Affordable Life. I am the mom of (Isabella 2 years and Christian 6 years). How To Teach Preschoolers Personal Space and Boundaries:

Such an important topic to discuss and teach your children! What works for some may not work for others! Everyone deserves to have their own personal space and feel comfortable in it! But this is something that is so hard when you have two children almost five years apart! Isabella wants to do absolutely everything Christian does, play with everything he has and follow him around constantly. Talk about personal space and boundaries… Going through this the last few months has been an ongoing lesson for all of us. I enforce respect, space and effort.

Respecting each other is important in any relationship you will have! When you’re talking about kids, they don’t see it the same way! It takes a lot of time and patience for them to get along and understand each other. Both of my kids are changing and growing so much that it’s going to be an ongoing task as they continue to grow!

Everyone needs their own space. Believe me, this Mama understands the importance of S P A C E. Once the kids are in bed, household tasks are done, and lunches are packed, I thrive for alone time in my own little space doing whatever I want J I want to teach this to my kids as well! I encourage them playing together and interacting with other kids, but it’s also important that they know how to play by themselves and entertain themselves, and that’s okay!

It takes an effort from Mommy, Daddy and siblings to maintain and respect each others personal space and boundaries. When kids are really young they don’t understand it, but it’s important to start teaching and making them aware at a young age so they develop this by school age.

My name is Kristen from The Mrs. & The Momma. I’m the momma of 4 kids ages 2-7. How To Teach Preschoolers Personal Space and Boundaries:

In Tina Fey’s book “Bossy Pants” she says something to the effect of “some one who can barge in on you when you’re on the toilet is the BOSS of you.” In context, it’s hilarious because we all can relate to our kids (especially the little ones) not knowing anything about privacy or respecting boundaries. This is something we’re currently dealing with our children. I think back to my childhood and I NEVER went in my parents’ room without knocking, much less barge in when they were doing their bathroom business. So I think modeling respectful behavior is key with little ones….knocking on bedroom doors before entering, being a good example of modesty, and always looking for those teaching moments for them to learn and use manners. Besides that, I think once kids get to school-age, the personal space comfort level becomes instinctual, however we all know some one who could use a few more lessons on that, right? (side eye close talker) Giving children opportunities learn and put into practice these kind of “social rules” are necessary in their growth and development…and are good reminders for us parents

Your Turn:

Do you have any tricks for teaching preschoolers personal space and boundaries?

Leave us a comment; we love to read your tips and advice!

Need advice? Check out these previous Mom Connection topics:

Setting Goals with Your Children

Teaching Your Kids to Share

Getting your Preschooler Dressed

Balancing Blogging and Motherhood

How To Keep Your Kids Play Area Organized

I am part of an AWESOME mommy panel with Cassie from Two In Diapers and Julie from Naptime Review.

Each Saturday, we will bring you fresh new ideas and advice about motherhood.

If you enjoyed what you read, we encourage you to tweet about it!

Coming on March 9th, we will discuss:

How do you speak to your kids about stranger danger?

Now on to this week’s topic!

How do you prepare your preschooler for kindergarten?

Here is what Mom Connection shared:

Welcome! I’m Julie over at Naptime Review. I am a mom of two wild, crazy and beautiful girls. My oldest just turned 4 and my baby is 16 months old. This is how I prepare my preschooler for kindergarten:

When Averie was 18 months old, she was a student in my in home preschool. Luckily, she knew the teacher so she couldn’t get kicked out. Oh she was a pain! We had more time outs than circle time. Now, she is attending preschool at a local church. She is learning so much! I am confident in all the early childhood education years under Averie’s belt. I know she will be prepared for Kindergarten.

As a former kindergarten and 1^st grade teacher myself, I feel I am always working with my children. I try to incorporate learning into everyday conversations and experiences. We count and sort our food, we look for shapes while we drive, and we work on writing our name. We are always doing something. I guess that is the former teacher in me!

However, I realize that some parents struggle with knowing how to prepare their children for school. That is why I am really impressed with ABCmouse.com. Every night, before bed, Averie and I sit down at the computer and work on her skills. ABCmouse.com is preschool education for ages 2-5. The curriculum covers music, art, math, science, songs and reading. Each child has an individualized learning path. All we have to do is sit down and they do the teaching. They have over 1,000 lessons so we never get bored. Not only do I enjoy that one-on-one time with Averie, but I love to see her get the skills needed for Kindergarten.

So my advice for preparing your child for Kindergarten is enrolling in early childhood programs, using everyday conversations to help your child learn, and finding a fun and educational curriculum.

Hi! I’m Cassie from Two In Diapers, and I’m a mommy to three sweet babies, ages 4, 3, and 20 months. This is how I prepare my preschoolers for kindergarten:

Well, for one {obvious} thing – preschool. 🙂 My older two {ages 5 and 3} are both currently in preschool, and we are completely thrilled with their school. My daughter is already reading, and my son is learning tons of age-appropriate things in his class and just having a blast. They are both learning how to interact with their teachers and fellow students, and are learning all of the basics (and much more!) academically that they will be required to know in kindergarten. {I would like to acknowledge that there are plenty of children who never attended preschool and did fine in kindie, but I also think that kindergarten requirements have changed a bit in this age when most every child attends preschool, and many for multiple years}.

Emotionally, we try very hard to grow healthy, stable, confident, and aware children. Our kids have always been around lots of other kids {even our first – we did activities with other kids four days per week minimum!} and we demand love and respect towards their siblings and others as consistently as possible. I feel that everything we teach them from the moment they’re born – love, respect, manners, etc. – prepares them for kindergarten and beyond.

I also feel strongly that a good home base filled with lots of love will give them a stable place to go when they have those days where they struggle, thus giving them the confidence to push on and grow.

My name is Alexa from No Holding Back. I am the mom of Nayner Bug (male, 5), Jelly Bean, (female, 3) and Tiny (female, 1). This is how I prepare my preschooler for kindergarten:

I am going to be totally honest and say I didn’t prepare my son for Kindergarten. But his preschool sure did. He had the BEST preschool teachers! Their main focus was on teaching the child social behaviors: how to stand in line, how to follow directions, how to be quiet and respectful. Those are really the issues that will make or break a child in Kindergarten. As they said and I have found from watching him, children will arrive at Kindergarten with a variety of knowledge, from knowing all their ABCs to not recognizing any of them. They will all learn those things and be ready for 1st grade. But if your child cannot sit still and listen to directions, school is going to be very difficult. So, if you are getting ready to prepare a child for school, don’t stress over whether or not they can read or write (although I will say, it is VERY helpful if they are already comfortable using a pencil and writing some letters – that is certainly one area I lament not working more with him on) but do make sure they know how to wait their turn, follow directions, and interact with other children. (FYI, girls seem, generally speaking, to be WAY better at this than boys!)

My name is Fotini! I blog over at Glamorous, Affordable Life. I am the mom of (Isabella 21 months and Christian 6 years). This is how I prepare my preschooler for kindergarten:

Just the thought of sending Christian off to school scared me to death! I loved his pre-school, it was a small Christian based program, so sending him to public school was a big jump, for both of us! Not every day, but at least a couple times a week, we would review what they were learning in class. This way he would be familiar with working on schoolwork at home. I would aim projects we did to whatever it was he was learning in class, be it shapes, colors, etc. He wasn’t a messy kid to begin with, but I also emphasized organization. I think preparing them with organization at a young age is such a benefit in so many levels as they grow older. Just like any young child, he was constantly asking many questions daily which I did my best to answer in a way he would understand. I also think this is important in child development because it allows them to feel comfortable asking questions whether in school or another situation. As a parent, if you react aggressively towards the numerous questions kids can ask (no matter how annoying it can be!) I think it prevents them from wanting to ask more, especially if they’re truly confused about something, most importantly at school.

As pre-school came to an end, and it was time for kindergarten, Christian was getting really excited to being in a new school and meeting his new teacher. He had a really sweet teacher who kept in close contact with me via email if she had any concerns and vice versa. This really made me feel comfortable sending him off to school, even if it was only for a half-a-day. After the first few weeks of school, Christian began coming home upset and crying. As I began to ask more questions, he told me he was being picked on by not one, but two other kids in his class. This just absolutely broke my heart. Christian is such a loving, innocent boy who cares for everyone and he was so hurt that these kids were picking on him. After talking some with the teacher, she allowed me to volunteer with the class and help out for class projects when an extra helping hand was needed. After meeting the kids that were picking on Christian, it was clear to me that they probably didn’t get the love they deserved at home, so I just made sure to be as kind to them as possible. Every time I picked Christian up from school I would make sure to say “hi” to those kids, and after a little bit of time, they stopped picking on Christian. This was a hard time for both of us, and if you’re going through bullying with your children, I just recommend you do anything and everything you can to make it stop. Whether it is volunteering in your child’s class, introducing yourself to the bully and/or their parents, keep close contact with the teacher and make the office aware of the problem as well. For this to have happened in kindergarten I was shocked, but remember, unfortunately some of these children are raised in less than ideal situations. Be encouraging and supportive!

My name is Kristen from The Mrs. & The Momma. I’m the momma of three girls (ages 7, 5, & 3) and a little boy (18 months). This is how I prepare my preschoolers for kindergarten:

Where we live, if a kid isn’t at least on the verge of reading (if not already reading) by the time they start kinder…. they’re considered behind the curve. I don’t know if this is the case nation-wide, but for parents here, I think it puts a lot of pressure on us. I feel social and reading skills are the primary preparations for school. Two of my children are in school (1st and kinder) and we chose to put both of them in a preschool at the age of 3-4. Because of their differing personalities, we chose different types of preschool, but the main goal was to learn proper ways to be in a classroom setting and to learn how to play with various children (even those they may not like). I know preschool isn’t feasible for some families, so another great avenue is a co-op between moms (here’s a great curriculum). This serves the same purpose, and also may be more comforting to know the home and parents with which your child is spending time and from whom they are learning.

With all my girls (my son is still too young), we teach them reading readiness as soon as they are interested. My mother is a former educator, so I was able to draw from her wisdom and experience in teaching at home in those early years. There is a great list of things every child should know before kindergarten here. If you’re unsure if your child is on the right track, this is a great checklist for parents! Another great resource is this list of simple, everyday activities to prepare your child for kinder.

Education is of utmost importance to our family, as I’m sure it is yours…. however, preparing your child for that day they no longer are under your constant supervision….well, that involves a lot more than what I can write in a few paragraphs. But basically, it starts with loving parents.

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