hello,
My son is almost 30 months. I am thinking to prepare him to go to school or mothers day out programs. I want to start with just 2 days a week. Any suggestion of preparation before taking him? I really worry what if he cries after I leave himself in the school. And what is the best way of dealing with this issue? I really need advise. And I always use this site as my parenting resouce. Thanks in advance for your input.
Meng-chi stay home mom with 28-month-old son
thank you very much for all your inputs. I feel more confident now. And I will talk to him and maybe visit some possible schools nearby and hopefully both of us will go through this big step of our lives. Thank you and will update with you our progress.
There really isn't any preparation for your child except to get him excited. The prep will more be for you. He will have fun and learn social skills while you will be sad and missing him at first! However, even if he cries, that is part of the growing process. You have to expect him to cry when you leave. And I assure you he will stop crying very soon after you leave! Good luck!
Relax! It's going to be a bigger adjustment for you than it is for him. Kids are resilient and most of them deal with change relatively well as long as there is a routine to it afterwards. Chances are he will cry when you leave him if he's been at home with you all his life. It will probably take a couple of weeks for him to settle down. It might even take him longer if you're only enrolling him for 2 days a week. The more he goes the better, and then you can cut back if you have to. Talk to him, let him know he's going to a safe environment and he's going to learn and have fun. If you're relaxed, he'll be relaxed. Good luck!
Yup, chances are, he's going to cry. However, the teachers will be used to new children crying when their moms leave, and they'll know how to comfort him. The key is to give him a hug and a kiss; tell him you love him; and tell him you'll be back to pick him up in the afternoon. Then make a quick departure. The longer you hang around, the more he'll build himself up into separation anxiety. If you leave fairly quickly, the teachers will have a better chance of consoling him and getting him interested in the day's activities.
As for beforehand, I agree that talking to him about preschool and what he can expect will help a great deal. Talk to him about it every day and be very positive. Also, it would help to bring him to the place he'll be staying for a few short visits so he can be familiar with the environment. I wish I'd done that with my daughter!
If you haven't left him before, I would almost guarantee that he will cry. I would suggest starting to tell him now and build up that he's going to GET to start going to school and be a big boy. I always try to "warn" my daughter and build up whatever we are doing that I am worried about her reaction to. Even by doing this he will still probably cry and you might have to deal with this for the first several weeks. I work and when I've had to move my daughter, we still have a "transition period" - and it's very hard. But eventually he'll probably start to LOVE it and it will be good for everyone in the long run that he is around other kids. Good luck!
