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Not my LO but my niece and nephew were grandma care till preschool. Both cried pretty hard for the first week. My niece is a little more independent and was usually fine after my SIL left. My nephew is more clingy and A mamas boy and would cry for a while after and I think he cried for weeks after. But he is generally very very shy, very clingy, to the extreme, nothing like your daughter.

She will be fine! We stress way more than they do

Does your preschool do a gentle separation or is it just drop off on the first day and that's it? Ours does a phase in over 2 weeks, so I thikn that will help. LO has been home with me and has never spent any extended time with anyone except grandparents, and he is also very spirited and can be clingy in new situations. However, I really think he will be fine! I feel like kids see other kids playing and having fun and they want to join in, even if it takes sometime. I'm sure the teachers will work with you to make it as easy as possible.

Ds is a grandmacare / wahm baby!

I felt the same way as you and I was especially nervous last night! We just got back from dropping him off at a "play date" for a couple of hours. Basically a warm up, gentle transition into his schedule (mwf 8-1230) starting next week.

His class was doing warm up outside on the playground so there was a lot of distraction. Instead of lingering around we told him why we'd been telling him the past month and told him we'd be back to g et him later. He cried a lil bit then clung onto his teacher for dear life. We snuck a peek after we did some paperwork and he wasn't crying but standing by his teacher.

I'll update once we get back from talking with his teacher!

@mrsjyw: that is reassuring! I volunteered at a program this summer and some of the kids were so inconsolable and clinging to their parents that the parents decided not to leave them. As long as that doesn't happen we will be OK! I honestly think the only tears will be when it's time to go home.

So I'll be in this situation next year, but I've been a preschool teacher for 5 years. My advice is to continue talking about school and how fun it will be. Reassure her at drop-off and stay for a bit so she'll be comfortable, but don't linger too long. Honestly, I've had maybe 3 kids who have cried longer than a reasonable amount of time after the first week. In each of those instances, the parents would stay for hours and it would be like ripping off a band-aid every time they'd leave. 99% of the time, they are fine less than 5 minutes after parents leave! Talk to the teachers about your concerns and I'm sure they'll have some strategies for you.

She's going to have so much fun!! Try not to worry! But I totally understand because my son has been home with me or with my mom his entire life and I'm already a bit worried for next year

@Bao: I think we have the same kid! DS has just first day next week, to say I'm nervous is an understatement! Good luck to you, I hope she surprises you and it goes well!!

Let's hope she surprises you! My little one started preschool part time 2 weeks ago. We've had a Nanny since she was 4 months old and is very shy. When we go to the playground she doesn't really play with other kids because she's not too sure what to do. I was worried for months about the first day of shool. We have been reading books and talking about how fun school is. We made sure to explain that Mommy's and Daddy's are not allowed to stay for all the fun but we will always be back to pick her up and hear all about her day.

Well, on the first day she was very shy and wouldn't leave Daddy's side during the initial 20 min free play. But once it was time to sit on the rug for story time she listened to the teacher and joined in. Once she got settled, the teacher dismissed the parents and we left. She was busy listening to the story and there were no tears. She does well with structure.

I was a mess once we left and it was the longest 2 hours for me. When we got back to pick her up she was happy and excited to let us know about her day and there were no tears! Every school day she is excited to get ready and go. She'll even walk into class all by herself. We are so surprised and relieved by how she has been doing.

Good luck and hopefully you have a positive experience too!

We're in the same boat! E starts preschool tomorrow too and I'm so nervous about it! She's never really been away from me (longest was 8 hrs when I was in hospital having C, other than that, it's only been a couple of hours here, a couple of hours there) and she's quite a sensitive child as well so I am really nervous about this transition to preschool!

Our nursery does a three week phase in with smaller class sizes and a gradual schedule (one day the first week, two days the second, three the third, and then the full five days the fourth week with the full class size). I'm only planning on sending her three days a week but I'm clearly a minority doing that as most parents here take up the full five days as soon as their child turns three. I'm hoping that doesn't make things harder for her but I just don't think she's ready for five days per week, nor do I think it is necessary at this stage.

As for what we've been doing - we talk about it every single day. She knows her teacher's name and we talk about her by name all the time. We had nursery orientation in July and she loved several of the toys they had there (sparkly sand! Dress up! Horses!) so we talk about those all the time as well. We live on the same street as her school so we take frequent walks around the block to "check on my school". I've also written on her calendar which days she is going to be going to school - obviously she can't read yet but she knows the purple gel pen says 'school' so every night when she crosses off that day, she can see how many days left until she starts school. I think this will also help any confusion as she won't be attending every day and I don't want her wondering if today is a school day or not. And finally Llama Llama Misses Mama is one of her favourite books so we talk about how mummy is going to leave but come back when school is over, just like mama llama, and she seems to really get that.

Oh, they also wear uniforms here and she is thrilled to bits about wearing her school 'dress' and pulls it out of her closet every day just to look at it. She's super excited about that, and we just bought her a Frozen backpack today, so that has pretty much sealed the deal that she can't wait to go to school. We'll see how it all pans out tomorrow afternoon though when moment of truth, mummy needs to leave!

Good luck tomorrow - hope it all goes well....for both of us!