My 4 year old son has been attending the same childcare centre for about 2.5 years. He has a great time there and has a couple of close friends, but... dropping him off is awful! He fights every moment from when we ask him to get dressed till after we leave him at childcare. He settles shortly after we drop him off, but his behaviour during drop off is getting worse and worse. Refusals, crying, screaming, hitting, trying to stop me leaving the centre. We've tried staying to play with him for a while, engaging him with activities or his friends before we try to leave, bribes (sweets, toys, special trips), getting excited about all the fun things he'll do there. Nothing has worked. It's such a depressing way for me to start each day and so distressing for him. I'm looking for suggestions for us to try or even professionals in SA who could help us. I'm worried about what will happen if this continues when he starts school in 2021.
2 Replies
Some kids just aren’t “childcare kids” I work in child care and some children just never really settle, they just don’t fit the setting while others just love it. You could try changing centres to see if a smaller/quieter setting or even family day care suits better your child’s needs but other than that there’s not much you can do.
I had a child like this in my care, the child stopped as soon as their parent was out of sight. I told parent feel free to go to the door(full view of where we were for them but not for child to see them) and you will see it stopped quickly. Some children just don't want you to leave and my eldest was one of those children. The youngest LOVED it. Is he still upset afterwards when you have spoken to them?