Hello, I have a dear friend that has a little girl that started Kindergarten several weeks ago. The last few weeks her DD has been crying and clinging to her mother when being dropped off in the gym. She has a good day at school and when she is picked up she is happy. Does anyone out there have any advice for my friend on how to handle the drop offs in the morning? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I agree with the leave quickly post. As a prek teacher, I promise - tell her to go and not give in to that behavior. It is most likely a show for the parent and the parent feels guilty, and it never ends...
I stop that the first week of school in my class because it just really isn't necessary!
I was also a crier. I had to go to Daycare before school and I was nervous that I wouldn't hear them call my school to get on the bus. It's a phase, it will pass. Make sure she knows she's going to have fun and will be picked up later.
I was a crier too, all the way until the 2nd grade. It never lasted more than a minute or so, but it was still hard for me to be away from my mom after having been home with her all those years before starting school. By the time I got to 2nd grade, I stopped because I realized that it was embarrassing to cry in front of my friends and my teacher.
She just loves her mommy, it's just separation anxiety and makes us mommy's feel horrible for the rest of the day. They usually are fine within minutes after we leave. Has she made any friends, this will help a lot. Time is the real answer, just tell your friend to be strong and just remind her that mommy will be back after school to pick her up. It's just a little scary for her, she's so young, their are big kids there, she's use to being with mom. Maybe mom can go a little later so she doesn't have to be in the gym early, not that she's late for school, but maybe being dropped off closer to when it starts, only a suggestion, sometimes that isn't an option.
Good luck,
She should read her daughter the book "The Kissing Hand" and then follow the step in it at the end of the book. It is a sweet story about a little raccoon who is starting school and is afraid he will miss his mom. So she does something sweet so that her love with last and be with the little raccoon every day at school. Then she needs to make the drop off super fast and leave right away, not matter how hard. I am a teacher and the kids who get dropped off with a big production are still upset EVERY day. It is sad to see but the kids think that getting dropped off like that means they need to be nervous. It is normal for tears but she can help by making the drop off short and sweet. Almost all the kiddos are fine right when mom or dad leaves.
Hi J.,
I feel her pain. My DD did this every day in Kinder until the middle of October. I did almost EVERYTHING to keep her from crying. I even promised her a trip to the dollar store to get her fav toy if she doesn't cry and nothing worked. I too had to walk her in and as soon as we got to the door, she just started crying....it really did break my heart. I'd be calling the school to make sure she did stop.
Unfortunately I don't think there's much you can do in these situations. I know she reacted differently when her daddy took her and didn't cry with him for some reason so would it be possible for your friends husband to be the one to take her one day and see if he gets the same reaction?
Like the previous post said, I agree it would be more helpful if she could go straight to class instead of waiting in the gym. I hated the gyms in the morning and maybe her stress is coming from that too......
Hope she finds something that works!!
Is there any way she can go in and stay for awhile, for just a couple of days? Also, has she checked with the adults in charge to see what their input may be? I'm wondering if the child is getting teased or bullied, and doesn't know how to express that to an adult. School/gym can be a scary place for such a young child. Of course, it may just be separation anxiety, but I would be a little concerned and want to really determine if there is anything else going on. Good luck - hope she finds the right answer.
Mine did that and worried me sick until a worker told me to leave quickly and not allow him to get all worked up. Then, she told me to go around the corner of the building and look in the window. In the 15 seconds it took me to go around the building he was laughing and playing with the other kids. I felt better about it.
My kindergartner did this for a few days. I printed up some pictures of our family for him to fold up and put in his pocket so he could look at it if he was sad and I would just give him a new one every day. Only lasted about a week. His dad takes him to school, so he would cry when he left the house. He's ok now.
