Help your kindergartner take responsibility with a backpack PDF Print E-mail
Your kindergartner will probably use a backpack to carry papers between home and school. He will need to learn how to care for it and its contents.

Here are ways to help your child take on this responsibility:

  • Have a place at home where the backpack "lives." Your child will avoid frustration and wasted time (and so will you) if he knows just where to find his backpack every morning.
  • Empty the backpack together each day. Tell your child that he needs to give you the papers he brings home. With practice, he will soon do it automatically.
  • Have a system to get papers to the teacher. One idea is to put them in a large envelope marked with the teacher's name and a smiley face. Remind your child often to give any papers in the smiley envelope to Ms. Smith. Let Ms. Smith know about the system, too!

Reprinted with permission from the September 2009 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Early Childhood Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2009 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: Carol Wright, A Parent's Guide to Home and School Success – Kindergarten, ISBN: 1-55254-169-X (Brighter Vision Publications, www.brightervision.com). SS