If you’ve been a stay at home mum for a while, then your child’s first time at crèche can be a traumatic experience.
The first thing you need to establish is how your child behaves once you’ve actually left. In many cases, the mummy will spend the day worrying and feeling depressed, while the child is over the trauma within minutes, and having fun with friends.
If you’re happy that the crèche your child is attending is a good place for her to be, and you’re enjoying your job, then it may just be a case of needing a few days or weeks to adjust to the situation. If not, then there’s a good chance your child is picking up on your emotions about your new arrangement, and that’s contributing to the problem.
A good idea is to plan unscheduled visits to your child’s crèche during the day, when you can observe your child without being seen. If your child seems happy and well adjusted, then it’s likely that she will adjust in time. Find out whether your crèche has cameras that you can use to see how your child behaves in class, or whether they have a web cam that you can use to check how she’s doing online.
The next step is to make arrangements with your employer, and your child’s care giver, that you start the process of settling your child into her new child care environment.
Schedule a week where you can spend the first day at crèche with your child, and then gradually introduce time that you leave, and come back. Increase the amount of time you spend away from the crèche every day, and by the end of the week, your child should be happy to have you drop her off, and collect her at the end of the day. Essentially, this teaches your child that even though you’re leaving, you always come back for her.
