DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

My DD will be starting Kindergarten in 2 weeks. Im so nervous for her and dont know how im going to get through the 1st day and everytime i think about it i get sick. The reason is because she is VERY shy!! It took her about 5 months in Pre school just to start playing with the kids and before that she stayed with one of the teachers for the whole 3 hours. If that teacher had to leave the room she would get very upset and nervous. Im just nervous that her kindergarten teacher wont be as understanding as her pre-k teacher. We talk about kindergarten everyday and i tell her how much fun shes going to have and that her teacher is very nice. She is very excited to go and loves school and doing school work. I just hope everything goes ok. Anyone have shy children that could share some advice or stories? Thanks!

Re: DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

My middle dd is like that. She is 7 and still very shy. I was able to talk to the teacher before hand during orientation and let her know the situation. It took her a bit to warm up, but she did great. She is going into 2nd grade and doing great.

Re: DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

My dd was and still is VERY shy. I was so nervous on her first day of preschool. I thought she was going to be the kid that held on to my leg screaming. She completely shocked me and waved goodbye to me on her very first day and said "see you at 3". You never know, she might surprise you. Good luck!

Re: DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

was pre-K through the school district? my SD promises that alll UPK students will have a familiar face in their Kindergarten classroom. Maybe your school has that policy too?


Could you call the principal and tell her your concerns and see what she suggests.

Re: DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

DD's pre-k wasnt through the school district so she wont know any of the children in Kindergarten. I wish that wasnt the case cause towards the end of pre-k she became very close with 4 of the girls. I hope she surprises me and acts totally different and has a great time. I know eventually she will but if it happen from the start i would feel so much better about her going. Thanks for your replies.

Re: DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

I was like that with my dd's and will be like that when my youngest goes

Re: DD starting Kindergarten...im so NERVOUS!!

Kindergarten will be more structured than PreK so she will not have as much time to be free and have to interact on her own. I know that doesn't change if she is a shy person but with more structure, she might come out of her shell more. My experience with K teachers is they are very nurturing with the kids, especially in the beginning so I wouldn't worry about the K teacher not being understanding of your DD's personality. They see all kinds of personalities. Do you know if your school district lets you come in the first day? I had no idea when my DS first started but apparently with our SD so many parents go in and stay for the first 10-15 minutes on the first day. I did it last year with my DD and I felt better about her environment having seen her in it for a few minutes. If you can, it would be a good time to say Hi to the teacher and tell her that DD can be shy. It would give the teacher a heads up about her personality and a chance to help her interact. It could make a difference in what table she seats DD at and noticing if she is not putting her hand up to answer Q's, use the bathroom, etc.

It will be OK, she will probably love it. My kids aren't really shy but one of DD's friends is painfully shy and she had a wonderful experience.