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Pre-School and Daycare
2dogmom
member
tell me it gets better-1st preschool/camp experience
2dogmom
member
DD started pre-school/summer camp this week. We're only doing it once a week and I stay home w/ her, so she's never been in this environment before. We are in a play group that meets a couple times per week, so she plays with other kids often, no problem. I know that once a week isn't much and probably not enough for her to get used to the idea. It's a predecessor to pre-school in the fall, we thought we'd ease her into it. She cried on and off alllll day. She spent a lot of the day on the teacher's lap. She was crying hard when I picked her up. It gets better, right?
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Re: tell me it gets better-1st preschool/camp experience
It gets better! One day a week is going to be hard though, not much of a chance for her to develop a routine. Is there any chance she can go more often? My oldest just started "camp" also. Same thing, getting ready for preschool in the fall. The main difference is for camp it's an entire week and you can pick and choose the weeks you want to sign up or not. Honestly I wasn't thrilled with this format either, it's a big adjustment, we can't afford to do full time all summer so some weeks he'll go all week and some weeks not at all, but it's a wonderful program.
The first week, every day was hard for drop off ( I'm lucky that DH takes him and I think that helps) and then bam the 3rd day of the 2nd week was fine and every day since has been fine. Now of course my younger one is going through a daddy phase and every days is a horrific tantrum about how he's sad because he misses daddy.
My advice would be if she continues to cry the entire time to break it down even further and either pick her up early or if you can bring her in late and pick up late. One thing that made a huge difference now that I think about it, was being a smidge later and dropping off right when they were getting started on their morning activity. I think for DS that being dropped off in a strange environment with free play time was really stressful for him. I guess he didn't know what to do with himself and most of the other kids have been going a year so he's having to break in.
Good luck.
It gets better. And the more you do it the easier it gets. Where else can you drop off dc? Our local library has story hour (which is 20 minutes but whatever) many churches have sunday school, swimming lessons etc.
My dds get to play in the play room at my gym while I work out during the week. We went on vacation for 3 weeks where i didn't leave them. When we got back home and into our normal routine dd2 was not at all about to let me put her down in the play room that first day.
The once a week is tough, can you send lo more frequently? The more experience they get being dropped off and picked up the easier it is for them to understand this is just a temporary separation, mommy will always come back and the activity at hand is fun. Your attitude is also important. When dropping my kids off, I give them a schedule as we arrive. You are going to the playroom while mommy works out, then we are going to go home and have snack, then to the library. That way they know what is going to happen.
When you drop her off don't hesitate or linger. Have a quick cheery good bye and go. With dd1 when she went off to preschool we had a kiss routine, cheek cheek, forehead, nose, chin smacker and she was gone. With dd2 at the playroom, I walk in, find a toy she'll be interested in and disappear. It gets better, and just like Darius Rucker says "It won't be like this for long"