Your child’s first day at the daycare can be both a wonderful and stressful experience, especially if your little one is leaving you for the first time – this creates a tricky challenge for parents who need a toddler daycare to drop off their kids. Luckily, there are ways to gradually ease your child into a daycare’s environment without causing them great stress or anxiety.
Our friendly Jewish daycare team is trained to accommodate your child and provide them with an inviting atmosphere to interact with. We want to help parents prepare their children for the daycare drop-off and ease their way into the environment if they’re unsure about it.
We’ll go over some steps you can take to stop your child from crying on the first drop-off, detail some helpful hints to ease their way into the environment, and learn how long the adjustment period usually takes.
How Do I Help My Child Stop Crying At Daycare Drop-Off?
A crying child on their first day at daycare isn’t a pretty sight, but your child is probably unfamiliar with the new situation they’re put in. They’ll be on their own and supervised for the first time by someone other than their parents and it’s understandable why a child would cry. Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to help prepare them for daycare and avoid tears being spilt.
You can start by explaining the steps of what’s going to happen at daycare for your child, as best as you can. Encourage them to bring their favourite toy to comfort them and keep to a schedule so that they’ll gradually get used to a routine. From there, relieve your own stress so that your child can’t sense your own nervousness. Kiss or hug them before leaving and don’t linger anymore than you should.
If the child does start crying, don’t scold them for it as this creates more stress and uncertainty on their part. When you pick them up, avoid giving them a bribe as well because this would set up fake expectations and disrupt your pre-set plans. Instead, try ending on a good note and give encouragement about their first experience at daycare.
With luck, they’ll be a little more eager to be dropped off at daycare next time. There are some more helpful hints to ease your toddler on their first daycare drop-off, so let’s expand on them.
What Are Some Helpful Hints To Ease My Toddler For Drop-Off?
In addition to bringing your toddler’s special toy and talking them through it, it’s important that you be transparent and caring as much as you can during the first dropoff. If your child is still uncomfortable about the daycare experience, then you should consider goodbyes with your child first.
When you create a goodbye ritual, you’re creating a fuss-free routine that gives your children assurance you’ll return. It can be as simple as giving them a high-five, telling them “I love you,” or kissing them goodbye on both cheeks. Get creative and do whatever you think feels like a natural goodbye.
Afterwards, while you can make time to do a check-in from time to time, we’ll remind you again to leave rather than linger around. This creates a limit that won’t tempt your child to look around for you. You can also create a new center of attention for your child to distract their time and keep your absence unnoticed.
How long it takes for your child to adjust to the dropoff depends on them. Each child is different and may react to these tips in varying ways. Let’s explore how much time it takes for them to get used to this new routine.
How Long Will It Take Before My Child Gets Adjusted To The Daycare Drop-Off Routine?
If all else fails and your child is still crying, we recommend tempering your expectations a bit and adopt a gradual approach. Having gone over ways to ease your child into a daycare environment, you should know how long it takes for them to adjust.
Depending on the child, some will cry on their first day while others may be fine. They can make new friends or play with a new toy they’re interested in. This can take a few trips, but we suggest starting your child on a part-time schedule before transitioning to the daycare full time. For example, you can start going with them for an hour, leave them alone for 20 minutes, and then return to pick them up.
Begin this process for a couple of days or half-days. Start sometime mid-week rather than Monday before making the daycare dropoff a weekly routine. Do expect some tears to be shed, but be as comforting and considerate to your child as you can.
Contact or visit ACE Daycare today to help you ease your child’s drop-off routine and ensure that they have a fantastic day!