Sometimes, on my to work, I take Audrey to school. It's fun because she sits proudly in her booster seat (no car seat in Daddy's car!) and likes to show me that she can operate her seat belt and get in and out of the car herself.
On the way I like to ask her what she expects to do at school that day because getting information out of her later can be tough unless she's in the right mood. But generally her retort is, "Why do you keep asking me that, Dad? I'm haven't gone to school yet." Can't argue with that.
In the school parking lot teaching staff wait to escort the kids inside. But Audrey always prefers that Daddy walks her in instead. I suspect that each time we do this I'm disrupting the orderly flow of the drop-off process but no one seems to mind as far as I can tell.
Audrey is outgoing but generally requires some warm up time before she is comfortable. As a result she'll cling to my leg or act shy when we approach her classroom, reluctant to engage with others. Her teacher usually has an exercise set up for the kids to as they enter the classroom which I suspect is to get their little brains going but also to ease their transition from home to school. It seems to work.
Audrey likes to add one extra step though and it has become a bit of a tradition. She gets 3 hugs and 3 kisses from Daddy before I leave and that seems to really put her at ease. Sometimes she requests a 4th which is perfectly fine by me because the hugs and kisses are harder and harder to come by nowadays.
If you're a parent it's good to come up with small rituals like this for the transitions that take place during the day - it helps make those transitions easier and more fun.
