Nervous About Sending Your Infant to a Daycare? Here are Things That Can Help

Call it a daycare or a toddler learning center, these child care centers are where most children spend their day while their parents are at work. Because of their job requirements, many parents have to enrol their young infants at such toddler learning centers. While you know from the outset that your child will go to a daycare center at a certain age, being nervous on the day off is normal. You are wondering how your child will transition from being the sole attention of their mommy-daddy to being at a day care facility. Additionally, kids in the age group of 6 to 12 months experience the highest level of stranger and separation anxiety. Add to it, the cost of the day care. It is gradually getting harder to find affordable day care centers. It all culminates to make you more nervous and unsure about your decision.

However, there are various comforting factors. Firstly, you are not alone. Over 50% of children in North America from 6 months to 6 years old are in some form of non-parental child-care situation. Secondly, there are various things you can do to make the transition smooth. Let’s dive into a few simple things that will help your kid successfully transition into the kids learning center.

1. Be Confident About Your Decision: You think that your child is too young to understand anything. However, they can easily sense your emotions. They very well know whether you are anxious or you trust the caregiver. They will respond in the same way as you. If you are confident about your decision to leave the kid at the daycare center, your kid will feel relaxed too. However, what you need to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t fake positivity. Babies can gauge when you are overdoing it. If you are unnaturally excited and exuberant or your goodbye is a little too prolonged, they will be more distressed. Therefore, you should aim to be naturally confident and calm.
2. Help Your Kids Socialize: There has been a gradual increase in the number of 12 months baby care centers. That’s because more and more parents are being required to leave their kids at the daycare centers at 12 months of age or younger. In this case, it is important that you train your kid to socialize in their early days. You need to get them used to a group setting. If there is a program at your local library, you can take your kids there to indulge in some form of group activities. This goes a long way in helping your baby be ready to be in a group setting.
3. Understand Your Daycare: Before you start-off the routine, you should take time to visit the center as a family. This way, you will get to know the environment of the daycare center. You should conduct some research about whether the center allows teddies, who the primary caregiver is, what schedule are kids going to follow, and more. Additionally, this time can also be used for you to converse with the staff at the toddler learning center. You can provide them information about your baby’s preferences, what soothes them, whether they like to be rocked when sleeping, and more.
4. Slow Transition: Let’s assume you are going back to work after 12 months of maternity. You shouldn’t start the daycare routine on that very day. Instead, you should start leaving your baby at the daycare for a small duration of time (say an hour) every day. You can then gradually increase the length of the day in increments. This way, your baby and yourself will be more prepared for the transition when you eventually do get back to work.
5. Say a Proper Goodbye: Some parents tend to sneak out on the first few days of their drop-off routine to ensure that the baby doesn’t realize that they left. However, babies tend to require a proper goodbye. This way, it builds trust that you are going to return soon. If you sneak out, the child is instead stressed as they don’t know where you went. Make sure to say a proper goodbye and see to it that the caregiver is there to comfort your baby when you leave. Yes; your baby will cry but that wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.

These few things will help you make your baby’s transition to a toddler learning center facility so much simpler than you imaged.

This is the syndicated copy of an original article posted at http://www.allaboutkidslc.com/blog/2018/05/17/nervous-about-sending-your-infant-to-a-daycare-here-are-things-that-can-help/

At All About Kids Childcare and Learning Centers, we will provide your child with a great learning environment, as well as a caring and well-trained staff that will work one-on-one with you to build a solid foundation for your child.