Daycare

sarahvarno

Hello,

My boys are transitioning into daycare they were at home with my parents. They have been going now for 3 weeks and still each time I drop them off they have complete meltdowns. Some days they are upset throughout the day. Any tips for a better transition? Does it usually take this long? Need some encouragement it is so heartbreaking to see my little guys like that.

Jen0204

How long does it take them to settle down?  I know if the girls are hysterical when I leave I'll text the DCP and they settle down usually as soon as I'm out of sight.  I think it takes older kids more time to adjust but mine have been going since around 7 months and they still have tough days from time to time.  If they settle down pretty quickly I wouldn't worry too much about it.

smiling76

Estwd2:

On the way to daycare talk about how much fun it will be and all the things they'll do. When you get to the daycare, make it a quick goodbye. Smile, give them each a kiss, and hand them off to a teacher. No long goodbyes, no sad faces. When you pick them up, smile and ask them about their day. Again, no sad faces and make it all positive. They'll settle in eventually.

M&M227

It took DD a couple months to not cry at drop off.  She got better during the day.  She attached herself to a teacher that she loves a lot and that helped also.

Dee1028

My advice is to just give it time. It took my fellas about a month (not every day though...only about 2-3 times a week) At first C stopped but T would still cry and then one day neither of them cried when I left. I hope it stops soon, it's heartbreaking. But also heartbreaking when they don't cry because you think they don't care LOL

MarieEmery

Separation anxiety also kicks in again around this time. I don't have any advice as far as the daycare side of things. I'm a home daycare provider so my daughter is with me. She would have separation anxiety when friends of ares would come over to our house or when my dad came to visit she hadnt seen him in 4 months.

rubysue267

DS has been in daycare since he was 3 months old and even though he loves it, he still has days where he doesn't want me or DH to leave and will flip out. To combat this, we start amping him up for the day at home when we're getting ready to leave. We'll say stuff like, "We're putting on your shoes because we're going to SCHOOL so you can play with your FRIENDS and have an AWESOME DAY!" Not sure if that really sinks in, but we give him a lot of time to mentally prepare that he's going to be away from us for a few hours. We do the same thing on the drive there and talk about how much fun he'll have, then when we drop him off we'll spend a few minutes getting him involved in an activity and talking about all the fun things he's going to do that day. One he's playing, he really could care less if we stay or go. On really tough days we've tried to do the distract and sneak-out routine, but he does a much better job in general if we're up-front with him about us having to leave.

Good luck - it's never easy to leave your kids when they're upset, but it will get better!

sarahvarno

Thank you for the advice. I think time will just make it easier on everyone!