I just had to ask this question because there are many knowledgeable moms here that would probably know what to do better than my self, being that this is the first time I go through this. My daughter is in Preschool, she's almost three years old. My husband and I have noticed that she really hasn't been herself lately. She's not eating a whole lot at home, she hasn't been sleeping well, etc. Yesterday for Halloween we took her to school in her costume. I stayed at the school to take pictures, etc. Her favorite teacher was not there which I thought was very odd. Today just a couple of hours ago I found out she's no longer at the school. I was devastated! In part because we loved this teacher, she was great with my kid. We also didn't get to say good bye which of course I understand is not the teacher's fault at all. I understand now why my daughter has been acting the way she has and why she asks about this teacher constantly at home. When I dropped her off today she clunged to me and cried which she has never ever done. I guess my question is what can I do to make her feel better about the situation (it's our first time going through this). Thank you all so much in advance.
Clarification:
The leaving was unexpected for my child, my self and my husband. The teacher was still at the school last week. As far as I know the kids didn't get to say goodbye to their teacher.
This happened several times at my son's daycare. One thing that might help is if you have your daughter draw the teacher a card and ask the school to mail it to her.
Unfortunately, this can be very common, especially in pre-schools. My son went through something similar in his pre-pre school (when he was also 2). It took him some time to warm up to the new teacher, close to three weeks. He would still ask about the other teacher, but over time it gradually lessened. We told him that Miss Amber had to teach bigger kids, but that she still loved him. That seemed to help. We also talked positively about the new teacher at the house, and how much fun Miss Holly was, it seemed the more we were excited about her, the more he was.
As an aside, we actually ran into Amber and her son at a Target about 2 months after she left. She had gotten an elementary school position which is why she left. I knew she had her degree in early-education, and was thrilled she had gotten into the school system like she had wanted. We actually became friends on FB and now her son is one of my son's best friends and we will often do things with them.
I'm always leary of a change in behavior for so many reasons. A red flag went up when you said she clung to you and didn't want to go into school. Please check her out for other things other than just the teacher leaving. Try and talk to her about EVERYTHING!!! Is there a new teacher she doesn't want to be around, etc. Is there a new student picking on her? I wouldn't drill her in a scary way but ask lots of questions in a calm or playful manner, etc. to get answers. Have you taught her to NEVER be alone with any teacher? I know this sounds crazy, but with the world today these are things kids need to learn at a very young age. I hope you get this worked out and it's all totally innocent. Good luck!!!
Was the leaving unexpected? It sounds really unusual that a teacher would be gone on her own terms without saying something.
You might talk to the director and say that you don't need to get into personal employee's business, but you were unaware that the teacher left and your daughter has been taking the transition hard. Is there any way they could forward a card to the teacher? Or maybe just ask how it went down with the transition because you need to know to help your kid. How long has she been gone, did the kids say goodbye, etc?
