Settling In Advice Please

[AnonyMouse_35585]

We have a new little girl starting on monday. She has just turned 2yrs old and came to visit on friday. She was very happy exploring the room and we decided mum should leave her for a short while. She was fine and happy for the first 10-15mins but then started crying and screaming. After 10 mins of this screaming I decided to ring mum as I didn't want the child to have a negative first visit. Mum was grateful we rang and stayed with the child for another 30mins during which time the child left mum and continued to explore the room.

 

Does anyone have any advice on how we should handle the situation on monday? She is coming at the start of the session as mum and us agreed she may settle easier if she arrives at the same time as other children and all parents leave together.

 

Thanks

[AnonyMouse_64]

Hi, you've posted this in the Childminders forum but do I take it you're in some sort of preschool setting?

 

Personally I always insisted that parents stay for a full session with their child before starting during which we would discuss the settling in procedure. Quite often the parent themselves would express some sort of concern about whether their child may find it difficult initially based on past experiences. Then we were able to discuss fully how we would proceed and exactly how we would handle things if their child did struggle. Other times the parent would declare that their child would be fine, later we would discover this wasn't the case at all! This was always much trickier to tackle. I also found this enabled the child to explore and become confident in the setting which meant they found it easier when they started properly.

 

I know this isn't much use for you now, since this child is starting with you today, but perhaps you need to review your procedure for the future.