Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

I signed DD up for preschool a 2 year old program (she is 2 1/2), it is 2 days a week for 2 hours. The first week is only 1 hour to get them transitioned into the school. Tuesday was the first day and she cried, they told me on and off for most of the hour. I chalked it up to it being the first day, new environment, etc. and hoped day #2 would be better. Nope, I dropped her off today and she cried again. They actually called me after a 1/2 hour to tell me what was going on, she stopped crying when they were on the playground and then again when they had snack. But she seems to be the ringleader, making all the other kids in her class cry. The school says to give it at least another week and see how she does. I really don't want her to be traumatized by this, I feel so horribly guilty right now I do not know what to do.

She has been going to a sitter 2 days a week for the last year and a half and has never had any problem when I left her there. Now today when I dropped her at the sitter (after I picked her up from school) she started crying again and kept wanting me to pick her up.

I need some thoughts/opinions/advice - what would you do in this situation?

Message edited 9/11/2014 12:46:56 PM.

Re: Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

I'd give it another week. My girls will be 2 in in oct and will go to a program in jan. Give her time to get adjusted to it. Kids at this age usually cry when they see others crying. Mine do it all day long.

Re: Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

My son we had put in a 3 yo program but he wasn't quite 3 yet. The first day he cried for the 2.5 hours. The 2nd day we said we would make shorter her cried for the entire time.
I felt he might have been to young and there was no need to traumatize him so I pulled him from the program and retried a few months later. A very different reaction later on. He had no problems.

Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

My DS is 2 years 9 months. He started a half day preschool program on Tuesday. he CRIED and screamed when he boarded the bus and realized I wasn't coming with him which is normal since it was his first time away from me. I was told he was in "cuddle corner" with a teachers assistant for a good 30 minutes and then slowly warmed up and joined circle time. He just got home from his second day at school, he screamed again when boarding the bus but was happy by the time he arrived at school and pariticipated in all activities and had a great day!

Give it time, children are individuals and unique, may take your child another week, maybe 2....keep giving her lots of cuddles and reassurance. If your gut tells you she's not ready then pull her out and try again in January, you know best.

Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

Give it time. It will take a few weeks. My DS is in daycare since 8 weeks and still has days where he cries when my DH drops him off.

Re: Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

You got some good advice, and I'm sure that in time, she will be fine!

With that said, I just wanted to say that I think it's perfectly fine if you pull her out and try again when she's older. If you feel guilty and it's upsetting her and you dont HAVE to send her, than why do it? However, my DD is 3 and I don't plan to send her to formal preschool until she's 4. We do dance class & art class (which are separation classes) and also library classes together. I see no need to send her off to "school" now, being that I'm home. Do what feels right for you and your Dd.

Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

I just started sending my 2 year old. So far so good. But if she were crying, I would think about pulling her out if it continued.

Re: Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

Thanks everyone. I guess we will see how it goes next week.

Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

Also, when you drop her off, just give her to the teacher and walk away ... if she starts crying, don't go back to her. It only makes it worse, from my experience.

You can also try to talk up the school and tell her how lucky she is to be going and playing with all these cool kids and new toys and blah blah blah

Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

2.5 is still really little. Maybe she isn't ready for that type of setting yet. Give it a few more days and if there isn't any improvement pull her out. You can always try again when she is older.

Need advice/opinions re: 2YO preschool.

IMO sometimes the programs with 1 to 2 days/week make it tougher on the LOs to transition. I agree with the pp, if there isn't any improvement in the next few days I would pull her out. If it's for daycare purposes and your don't have any choice stick it out but it's not worth the stress for either of you just for nursery school. GL!!