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Age: 3 and up
Area of Development: Social and Emotional
This may be quite possibly the easiest tip to remember. If your child is crying when you go to drop him or her off at preschool (or kindergarten or first grade or, well, if they're older than that maybe talk to your doctor), say a quick goodbye, tell him or her they are very safe here and they can have fun, and leave. Prolonging the goodbye will only escalate the crying. Leaving without saying goodbye will cause your child to not trust you and he or she will probably not even let go of you next time you attempt to "sneak out." In all my experience of working in daycare centers and preschool classrooms I can almost guarentee that your child will stop crying within 10 minutes - usually children stop crying the minute they can no longer see their parent. Usually this behavior will stop within 2 weeks - if the behavior isn't gaining the child any extra attention - so, like I said, say a quick goodbye, assure your child she is safe, and leave.
This tip will also work for dropping your child off at the babysitter or daycare - and even works with toddlers - trust me on this one.
Did you find this tip helpful? Do you have a tip for leaving your child at school? Let us know!
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3 comments:
It'll be awhile before I can try this out on Henry but I can say that when dropping him off at daycare, I try to spend a few minutes with him to help him get settled. I try not to leave when the daycare providers have their hands full with the other kids. This way, when Henry does get sad and start to cry, they can attend to him promptly and lessen any unpleasantness. Great tip!
You know last year mine was fine with me leaving until he "realized" I left. Then he cried the rest of the day. It killed me when I found that out, because he'd done so fine initially.
Christie - excellent point. usually I'll encourage a mom with a crying child to give her hand to me (the child's hand), then I take over as the mom says goodbye and leave - so yes, waiting for someone to take over is agreat idea!
AnglophileFF - Did Knute say goodbye to you? Did he know you were leaving before you left? That's not very usual to cry after the fact - and I'm surprised his teachers couldn't help calm him down!
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