Daycare Transition

I work at a daycare as an assistant...with 2 year olds in the morning and 1 year olds in the afternoon, so I work with children just your son's age. Don't worry...they do transition, although some take a little longer than others. I have a set of brothers (one in each of my classes) who both had a tough time transitioning just within the past couple weeks as a matter of fact. Since I'm in hte 2 yo room when they come it the older one is the one I work with during the transition time. What I found worked for me was I would take him outside to help me "look for fire ant nests". He loves being outside and just a few minutes of being away from the others would help him calm down. Or if we were already outside I would think of something to help me with inside, such as make copies of the daily sheets we take home, get something from our resource room, etc. If your son's teacher doesn't have an assistant maybe the director or assistant director could try this for him. Now I get a big smile from this little guy as he walks in the room (most days, lol), andhe just started 4 weeks ago. I also reassured Mom daily with his progress, which I'm sure your son's teacher is doing.

Does he have a "lovey" such as a special blanket or stuffed animal that he could take with him? My daughter used to take a doll with her around that age. The school even asked me to let her bring something even though that was usually against the rules. It helped a lot!

I also used to kiss myy kids on the cheek (without lipstick) and tell them to touch their cheek when they missed me. I did not use lipstick because I didn't want him/her to freak out if the lipstick came off during the day.

My son, who is now 22 mths, started daycare the end of April (he was almost 21 mths). We had a difficult time as well. He had always been in private care: my dad and step-mom and/or one of my close friends. He was use to being away from me-had him my last yr in college, always worked, single mom..u get the pic. I knew it wld be a transition but never imagined what it turned out to be lol it took right @ 2-6 wks for him to finally adjust..it was like WWF in the mornings to get ready to leave and get him in the car seat...then the crying when i wld leave...not to mention he was use to getting all the attention haha but FINALLY he adjusted. He loves it now! When we walk in he runs over to the kids and toys. I actually found my feelings getting hurt the first few times...it was like"mom who?" lol All kids are different and adapt to change in different ways. Alot of it is guilt...even tho they're so little, they know how to play it lol I think he'll be fine.

My daughter really had a difficult time in the mornings when I dropped her off as well. I ended up going earlier and simply staying a bit longer. I would talk to the teacher and the other children and give her time to drift away from me. If she got upset, I would remind her that we'd be there to pick her up after her nap. It took better than four weeks with an occassional bad morning now & again, but now she barely notices when I leave her in the mornings. It will get better.