Worried about leaving your child for the first time – here are some tips on how to help prepare!
Leaving your child for the first time can be a traumatic experience for both you and your child but the reality is that once you leave, they are quickly engaged in activities and tend to forget about you! Of course, this is the aim and our childcare experts at Twinkle Home Health Care know exactly how to interact with your little one to distract them from their initial worries.
Our experienced childcare experts are skilled at putting children at ease quickly once they arrive, but as a parent there are also certain steps you can take to help your children prepare for this new routine.
For little ones, the prospect of someone new arriving can be met with mixed feelings. Some children will be excited to show this new person their toys and to show off their gymnastics skills, while others may be very nervous. They may have a lot of questions running around inside their little heads and as a parent, you will know what you need to do in terms of reassuring your child before your childcare expert arrives.
How you reassure your little one is a very personal decision because as we know, every child handles things differently. Some children might want to know every detail about what will happen when they arrive and others might be so comfortable with strangers that they take this very much in their stride.
If your child is showing signs of anxiety:
- Reassure them that you will be back soon and that their childcare expert has your number and can call you if needed. It’s also best to emphasise that whilst you are contactable, you are busy and shouldn’t make demands for the childcare expert to call you.
- For older children, discussing rules for the day/evening is important. We all know that kids want to avoid bedtime at all costs and can come up with any excuse to prolong the bedtime process! Whilst our childcare experts are trained to deal with these situations, it will support them further if this rule is explained before they arrive.
Whilst our childcare experts have the skills to put your little one at ease, it can be a good idea to try to make this exciting for the child and encourage them to think about what sort of activities they would like to do with our caregiver – “their new friend”. We send a few important questions as part of the booking process which will help our childcare expert prepare for their time with your little one.
- Do they have a favourite toy?
- What is their favourite food?
- Are they allowed to watch TV, if so, the little one can choose a favourite movie to watch with them?
Making this a positive and exciting experience will really help both you and the child feel better.
We know that leaving your child for the first time can be a daunting experience and that children usually want to know why this person will be coming, who they are and where mummy/daddy are going to without them!
We share our childcare expert’s profile which will include their name and picture. We can also arrange for an interview and for your child to meet their new friend ahead in advance. Call us now at 800 Twinkle or visit us at twinklehomehealthcare.com for more information about our childcare service.