Your child has reached another milestone in life- starting elementary school! This can be scary and anxious for your child. To help them, I read a story called, The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn. It is about a raccoon called Chester and he is anxious about the first day of school. His mother teaches him about the kissing hand to deal with the separation anxiety. Chester’s mother kisses the palm of his hand and the “special warmth” is transferred to Chester’s face and gives him “toasty warm thoughts.” Whenever he feels lonely, he can put his palm to his cheek and remember that “Mommy loves me.”
You can try the kissing hand with your child. You can remind your child that if they are missing their family at school, they can put their hand to their cheek to feel love.
In class, we each made a kissing hand (hand in sign language means, “I love you”) and it is posted on our classroom window. Come take a look!
