4 year old getting very clingy again

jlw2505

My 4 year old is a huge Mommy's girl and always has been.  She would snuggle with me and sleep with me 24/7 if I let her.  She has been in daycare/preschool since she was an infant and drop offs were very hard for a long time but had gotten way better until a few weeks agos - today at drop off, she had full out tears and was hugging me so tight.  The teacher had to take her away from me so I could leave.  The assistant director who my DD's loves heard her crying and was heading down to the room to get her as I was leaving.  I know she has a lot of change going on right now - getting ready to switch to the next classroom which she has been visiting for months and at the end of the summer, she is leaving the center and starting PreK at the elementary (which she is super excited about but its still a change).  I am so hoping that the change in classroom is a big reason for this and that once we get her officially moved in 2 weeks, drop offs will get better again. Dropping her off crying is so hard especially when I know she loves it, she has a ton of fun and is happy within mins of my leaving.  It is just the saying good bye part that is so hard.

Mrs.JLC

I'm sorry you are going through this. Have you tried talking to her about it ahead of time? My DD went through this in February. Long story short, we chatted about it and she said she "missed me." So I got us up 10 minutes early every morning and read her a book or played princesses for 5 minutes. We set a timer and I gave us the 5 extra minute buffer so we didn't run late. Then when we got home I made sure to spend 5 minutes asking her about her day.  She was also dealing with some changes and what I deemed our "10 special minutes" a day made a huge difference. When she would get teary eyed at drop off I would tell her I was going to miss her too and I couldn't wait for our special time together. Three months later and some mornings she still wants that special time and some mornings she is standing at the door telling me to hurry up because 'X' is happening at school today.  Good luck.