Hellobee Boards

A and B just started school in January. The rest of the class had been together since September, so I was a little worried about just throwing them in there. Theyve always been home with me, and have never even been babysat by someone other than my ILs, so I was pretty nervous. We talked about the fun they would have at school and read some books about school. So I ended up with one of each - one of my twins had no problem with the transition. She literally could not care less when I leave and she never has. She barely even says goodbye to me. The other one had a very hard time. For about 6 weeks, maybe 8? he screamed hysterically for drop off. He'd scream all the way in to school, the whole time we got stuff put away, I could hear him all the whole time I walked back down the hall. Oh it was so horrible. I felt terrible! But his teachers would send me photos of him a couple minutes after I'd left and he was fine. It just sort of became the routine to freak out about me leaving, then calm down once I'd left. One day he just reaches a turning point and he was ok with it. We worked on a routine that I think really helped him and we talked about it at home a lot. We'd go inside, hang his coat and backpack up, wash hands, take his name tag off the board and put it in the treasure chest, say hello to the class fish, then go to the play doh table. Then I'd say goodbye. Then we'd talk about the other things he'd do after I left - they would do centers for a while, read a book, go to the gym/outside, come back and wash their hands, have a snack, sing songs, them mommy comes back!! Talking through all of it really helped him understand the day and that I will always come back at the end of class. Now it's soooo much better. I think he really likes going to school now and looks forward to it. So even if your LO has a hard time in the beginning, there's hope that it will get better!

If you have the option of slowly adjusting - like using the first week to start with a few hours, eventually increasing to full time - I would do that.

Change is hard, but if it's a preschool you're confident about, then this change might be really good for her ... a formative experience.

I'd listen a lot during the first weeks, ask encouraging questions, share joys, and tell her how proud you are of her. Dropoff has to be really non-emotional for us - just a "Have a great day! I'll see you at 3:30", and walk away. If I linger, she'll freak. I save the encouragement and long talks for after school. The teachers can handle morning apprehension, and hopefully they'll text you photos once she's settled.

We started a 2s program in September.
One thing that our preschool director told us during orientation is that they will definitely take their emotional cues from us. So if we seem really nervous or sad or whatever at drop off or even leading up to the first day, they will get that feeling too. Of course some will have it regardless of our reaction, but it helps to be really positive. Talk about how much fun it will be. We started a good month or so before. We read a book and looked at pictures of the school and his teachers. I talked about all of the fun things he'll do there and how I'd always pick him up at the end and he can show me what he did (this didn't matter much once he got into it, but in the beginning they recommended always the same person for drop off and Pickup).
At drop off I made sure I was happy and excited and smiling/waving. They line up before going in and sing a song and wave goodbye to grown ups so being positive and excited helped.
Also at Pickup being super excited to see what he made that day made him really happy/excited/proud.
I Also always have a snack he'll love waiting in the stroller. Sounds silly but he likes the consistency and routine and it's something he looks forward to.
Also he LOVED his new backpack so we let him use that before and talked about what he'd put in it for school and bring home in it.

Also, most if not all kids Do eventually adjust. Fortunately mine never cried or resisted. I think once but it was a couple months in when he was a little tired from poor sleep the night before.
Anyway, there were 2-3 legit criers at drop off every day for a good month or so. But the parents followed the teachers instructions on how to handle it and even with the crying at drip off they weee all happy at Pickup. And after a month or so they all go in excited and happy for the day except for a random exception here and there (maybe illness or something). There was one who was just wailing and would wrap his body around his dad for a few weeks and now he waves bye and practically runs in. So it may seem really hard at first but if you are positive and consistent it can/will get better!

Will add anything else I can think of later!