Attending preschool will teach your child important social skills as well as basic educational material. However, the transition into preschool is not always easy for children. It can take time for them to get used to listening to an adult other than their parent and interacting with others their own age. To ensure your child settles in more easily, try helping your child develop these skills before his or her first day.

Sitting Quietly

At home, if your child feels like running around, he or she is probably free to go do so. Most children struggle to adapt to sitting still, whether on a carpet or on a chair, for longer period of time during preschool. You can work on this by:

• Having your child sit at the table as you read him or her a book. Do not let your child get up and switch to another activity until the book is finished. Start with very short books, and work your way up to longer ones.
• Schedule 30 to 60 minutes of "quiet time" each day. During this time, sit down with your child and partake in low-key activities like drawing, making a craft, or listening to music. Make sure your child remains sitting and engaged in the specified activity for the full time.

Sharing

Especially if your child is an only child, he or she is probably not used to having to share toys. You can work on this by scheduling some play dates with other children of the same age. Determine what activities you'll allow the kids to partake in before the guests arrive. Make sure the activities are ones that require the kids to share, such as playing trucks or making a craft together (during which they have to share items like scissors and markers).

Following Instructions

Your child can probably already follow basic instructions, like "put your toys in the box." But many children are not great at following sequential instructions before they start preschool. For instance, if your child's teacher says "put your crayons in your cubby box, put the scissors in the basket, and then line up at the door," they may not be able to remember all of these instructions and follow them in the right order. Luckily, this is easy to practice at home. Just start giving your child two instructions at a time at first. For instance, you could say "go put away your toys and then put your shirt in the hamper." Once they're good at doing two things sequentially, start giving them three instructions at a time.

Your child's preschool experience will go more smoothly if you spend a few weeks developing these skills before the first day.