Nearing its 20th year, the Lord Mayor's Picnic in the Park for School Starters allowed mums and dads to connect with other parents while their kids enjoyed plenty of free entertainment, crafts, goodie bags and storytime.

The transition to school can be a nervous time for families as emotions and tears run wild (and that happens to the kids too).

Amanda from Figtree is missing her "distraction buddy" to help keep her youngest son entertained, but is enjoying his enthusiasm for school, the meltdowns not so much.

"My biggest tip would be to not pepper them with questions, just let them come to you like we've been doing after school," she said.

Like other parents the Mercury spoke with, Amanda has navigated the "big emotions" that often come with such a milestone change by being quiet and calm.

"Having some quality time, sitting with him and letting him have them," she said. "There's no point in trying to fight it, just breathe through it."

Nikki from Mangerton said her daughter was really "struggling" with emotions and fatigue by the end of five long days.

Her older sibling has been helping when in the playground while at home Nikki assures her little one is "brave" and how proud she is of her.

West Wollongong couple Aaron and Tahlia's youngest wants to go to Kindy seven days a week if she could, though their older twins weren't so keen a few years back.

Tahlia said parents shouldn't worry if their child is crying as they say goodbye at the gates as once inside they'll have a fun time.

Her other big piece of advice was not to "over-complicate" the lunchbox as many kids don't eat a lot at school.

"My my girlfriends at the moment ... are so stressed because they've read all these things about lunch boxes and they're doing all this stuff and then the lunchbox is coming home full because the kids are like 'Whoa, this is all too fancy'," Tahlia said.

"Less is more, stick to what they like and if you can get something healthy in there that's a win."

As for the meltdowns, they also admit them to be "pretty traumatic" when they happen but their best advice was to "ride it out".

Phil from Bellambi was another parent whose child was super excited to be in the classroom, with his main piece of advice to put an ice brick (or the like) into their lunchboxes - especially in summer - to keep their food crisp and cool.

Blessy from Figtree was excited her eldest daughter had begun Kindergarten and the freedom brought with that but also admitted to missing her little one too.

Her advice was to set a morning routine and have patience through the challenges of Term 1.