Ohhhh New Faces, New Places, and New Experiences!!!

Yes, I am talking about daycare.. Owie had his first (partial) day today. And...... "he had a difficult time" That was the phrase they told his dad when he got picked up. However, I knew it was not going to be easy. I know he is going to struggle for the first bit, it is totally expected! (Hence the reason why I could not do the drop off today!) He has never been left longer than an hour and a half with out either myself or his dad being around, and that was only with his Grammy that he was left that long. And now for us to drop him off in a new place (even though we visited last week),  with new faces, and expect him to hold it all together and have a great time--- Geeze who are we kidding. All he has ever known has been us, this is what he has done for the past 10 and a half months, he has been with mom, dad, or both, and never without either for any extended period of time.

Everything that I have read says that it take a while (sometimes) for a child to settle in at daycare, some things I have come across says 2 weeks, some says 6-8 weeks, it all depends on the child. As well, one of his daycare teachers did tell his dad today that a child at 10 months old is the most difficult to have start daycare because this is when they are entrapped in the world of separation anxiety, which yes, my boy struggles with a bit. Nothing too extreme but just a bit.

Tomorrow he will stay for the majority of the day.. Apparently the longer the transition the harder it is.. Wow, here I thought different, but then again I am only going with what I know, and in my field of work, when planning for transitions, and transitions them selves, are sometimes long, and some may seem drawn out, however, it is beneficial for individuals who have an extremely difficult time adapting to change. So, my thought was, lets start off an hour here, and hour there, and increase to half days, then eventually increase to full days.. Well, when I brought that up to the owner, she kind of shied away from my idea, which I did not in the least find offensive at all, but I just did not get it. She suggested starting of half days and increasing through the week. That sat fine with me. And now, tomorrow he is going to go the majority of the day.. Boy, my thoughts are a little different!!

Again I suppose this may be a situation where mama holds him back a little-- just like him napping in his crib, just like him sleeping in his own room at night, I was the one who did not let him move to the next stage until I was ready. I believe that I am going to have to just go with the flow (which for the most part I do) and let him show/tell me that he is ready.

He has been off a bit though, since yesterday afternoon, he has been really cranky, and hard to soothe, then this morning he was a crank before we left. And then this afternoon he slept ALL afternoon. 1:30pm-5:10pm. Yup. He was one tired little boy.

We are so very fortunate to even have a childcare spot. There is such a shortage in our city and wait lists are full. We lucked out, and even got the centre that I wanted. I have always wanted him to be in a child care centre as opposed to home based child care, and I have many many reasons for that, so I am beyond thrilled that the stars were aligned for us.

Ohh the growing up we all have done...

xo


Comments

Popular Posts