Our Twins’ First Day of Preschool Went Perfectly—Here Are 12 Reasons Why

As my twins, Ames and Joules, walked into the preschool for the first time without me—and DIDN’T EVEN LOOK BACK—that was the moment I knew our transition was going to be successful. At the beginning of February 2021, my 3-year-old twins went to their first day of school—which also happened to be the first time they were ever in the care of someone outside of our immediate family. But it wasn’t just luck of the draw that led us to a happy transition that first day and first week. It took a LOT of preparation.

Let me backtrack and explain our timing of starting school first, though. At the beginning of 2020, my husband and I talked about how we wanted to put the twins in preschool starting in the Fall of 2020—which would be right before their 3rd birthday in October. However, the pandemic threw a huge wrench in that plan. I had a great deal of reservations continuing with the plan, especially given I’m a healthcare worker. I didn’t want to spread or bring anything home during times of such great uncertainty. As a pediatric nurse practitioner in a pulmonology unit, I fortunately have easy access to some very brilliant pediatric pulmonologists. I started asking some of my physician colleagues for input on when to start the kids in school. The general consensus was February—after the biggest hump of cold and flu season would be over and more people would be fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. By February 2021, my husband and I were both fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus given my early access to the vaccines as an essential healthcare worker. This made us feel exponentially safer to put our children in preschool at that time! So, we signed them up to start 2 full days/week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) starting the first week of February 2021.

So, basically, this left a gap of time between August-February where the kids would have been in preschool, but I kept them at home learning with me instead. I wrote a blog post during that time that outlined my top picks for preschool-age learning tools at home that you can find here (they all helped so much, and I swear they helped turn my kids into little Einsteins). Although the tools were helpful in the education department, I also knew we had some work to do in the “Separating From Mommy” department to ensure a smooth drop-off in a new environment for the first time.

Here’s a recap of my twins’ first day: the drop-off was incredibly smooth, nobody even turned around to give me a hug—they both just happily walked right in! They stuck together for the most part, but still were making friends and interacting with other kids. They ate a little bit of their food, but they didn’t drink much. Both kids napped (which was shocking because neither of my kids are big nappers at home). They had a blast with all of the activities and on the playground. The school said they overall did “wonderfully.” They came home very tired but said they had a great day! I created a series of Instagram stories during the twins’ first 2 school days that gives a deeper insight into how things went - you can watch it on Instagram here.

Here are the steps we took that led to a VERY happy first week at preschool:

1.     We signed the twins up to be in the same preschool class.

I know keeping twins in the same class is a somewhat controversial subject with many pros and cons. But I think in the initial preschool years, it’s actually very beneficial to keep them together. They had each other to navigate all of the newness! I firmly believe that my twins did so well their first week because they had each other as a source of comfort. For the record – I think separating later, maybe in kindergarten, is probably good.

2.     We did a virtual tour of the school for the twins to see the classroom environment.

Given the pandemic, the school was not allowing in-person tours. So, I called the school and asked for a virtual tour where we essentially did a Zoom call. The twins watched and interacted with the staff from the comfort of our home. If an in-person tour is later available when the health climate improves, I definitely recommend doing this!

3.     The twins met their teacher via Zoom the week before their first day.

Putting a face to the name is always helpful. Their class actually has 2 teachers, but they met one of them via a Zoom call. It was so sweet to see how quickly the teacher connected with the twins, talking about how she wears glasses, too, (just like Joules!) and how she likes Superman (just like Ames!). They were able to commit both teachers’ names to memory in advance, so they knew who to go to if they needed help that first day.

4.     We read several preschool story books the month before that outlined what to expect on their first day.

Here are some of the kids’ favorite stories—some of them were actually recommended by other mamas on Instagram! (thanks for the help!) I think the books were probably the most key part to all of this. We read them for about a month almost every single day prior to their first day. My daughter would actually sleep with some of these books, too! (Ha!) These books allowed us to have open dialogue about what school is all about.

5.     We did a practice drive to the school the week before starting.

To show the kids just how close the school is to our house, I drove them to the school and let them see it from the car. We actually picked up the twins’ backpacks from the school at that time, too. The preschool provided backpacks that would stay at school (in order to reduce the spread of germs), so we had to pick them up anyway! The staff member that came outside to hand us the backpacks actually helps greet kids during morning drop-offs, so this offered a great opportunity for the twins to become familiar with another face! Ames was smiling super big and LOVED receiving the backpack from her (it had a cute little doggy on it)!

6.     We did a dry run of getting dressed in their new school clothes the day before school.

I told them that their first day of school clothes were very special and I made the clothes a big deal. I actually also had a tiny LEGO man toy “help” get them dressed which they thought was absolutely hilarious.

7.     I held a “pep rally” at home right before I dropped them off for the first day.

We danced and sang around the living room in our school clothes right before we got in the car. I wanted to amp them up with excitement and smiles right before we left—and it worked!

8.     I kept the drop off VERY short and did not make a big deal of it.

Our first drop-off was so quick that I literally didn’t even get a hug. Haha! They just walked straight in with the school staff member and that was that. Parents aren’t allowed in the school at this time due to the pandemic, so that’s why they had to go in alone. I just simply said, “Okay, bye! I’ll be back to pick you up soon!” and then they were gone inside. No tears, no drama! I will mention, though, that the second day was a little bit harder—because they knew what to expect. On the second day, Joules clung to me a big more at drop-off and I essentially had to pry her off of me and hand her to a staff member. Ames did awesome, though, and happily walked in again!

9.     Contrary to what others sometimes recommend, I kept them there that first week for almost the entire full day.

At first, I really wasn’t sure how long to leave the kids there, especially that first day. Some people recommend keeping the first couple of days short to ease them into the transition, but I took more of a play-it-by-ear approach. I communicated with the school throughout the day to know how the kids were doing—which helped me determine how long to keep them there that day. I know some preschool programs are half days (3-4 hours) while others are full days (8+ hours). In our case, our preschool offers extended full days with the majority of students attending from 8:30AM-5:00PM (8.5 hours). I opted for fuller days since they were doing so well during those phone call check-ins. The first day of school my kids were there for 7 hours. The second day of school I kept them there for 8 hours. They did GREAT with the full days during that first week!

10.  I stayed in communication with the school during those first 2 days.

I called 2-3 times during the first 2 days to check in on how the kids were adapting. The staff was so kind and offered a full update on each child. They also use an app called ProCare that they sent updates through including photos, nap times, and meal intakes. Staying in communication with the school during those first couple of days not only helped me determine what time would be best to pick the twins up, but it also helped put my own mind at ease.

11.  The twins and I agreed in advance that their favorite superhero characters would sit in the car windshield to pick them up after school!

Because I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure a happy transition, I had each twin pick out a couple of superheroes that would come to pick up the kids after school. I set them up in the dashboard of my car and the twins just totally ate this up! They smiled SO big when they walked out and saw all of their superheroes “waving” at them.

12.  I had exciting after-school activities planned for the first 2 days that they knew would happen if they did well at school.

I promised the kids in advance that if they did well at their first day of school that we would go get ice cream afterwards. The incentive of something sweet sure did work well that first day! On the second day, I promised them that I would have a fun obstacle course waiting on them at home (they LOVE when I do this). When the kids got in the car after I picked them up the second day, the first thing they said was “Is the obstacle course ready for us, Mama?” If you’re curious as to what I’m talking about, here is a link to one of the obstacle courses we’ve done before! Such a brilliant, fun and EASY way to keep the kids excited.

I know the first day of preschool can be scary for everyone. I was pretty nervous for the months leading up to Ames’ and Joules’ first day, BUT I promise it won’t be that bad—especially if you consider implementing some of the steps we took. I truly could not be any happier with how our first day and first week went!! To all of you twin toddler mamas that are putting your kids into preschool for the first time, good luck. You’re all going to rock it!!