How to conquer the difficult nursery drop-offs

Nursery drop-offs can be great, ok, or tough. In a little over a year of my daughter being at nursery I think that we have seen the full spectrum. It started off bad, then it got better, and it was great for a long time, but now we seem to be back to square one again. However I learnt a few little tricks of how to conquer the difficult nursery drop-off, and how to make it easier for you and your child.

Talk about nursery at home

One of the reasons why I think the nursery drop-off has become a crying and kicking event is that our daughter forgets about it. She only goes two days a week, and used to go for four. This means that there is 5 days in between her leaving nursery and going back again the following week, and in that time frame I’m sure that she forgets about it and gets used to being with me. So during our down days from nursery, I often talk to her about it, by asking what she did at nursery and who her friends are, my tactics for this are to make sure she doesn’t forget about it.

Make friends or be friendly with the staff

They are pivotal in your child’s development and they are the people who will care and make sure your child is ok during the day. Make friends with them, and make sure that you’re friendly towards them. Once your child sees you doing that and interacting, then hopefully they won’t see nursery as such a scary place, or a place that they don’t want to be.

Tell your child that there’s breakfast

That is if your child has breakfast at nursery. I find that a great way to coax your child into nursery and into their room is to encourage them by talking about breakfast. My daughter is so much happier to sit down if she knows that there’s food on offer. Wouldn’t we all?

Do similar activities as they do at nursery at home

If you’re feeling brave enough to crack open the paints or the water table at home then do it. We love to draw and colour at home, and whilst we’re doing this I talk to my daughter about nursery in the hope that she positively associates these activities with it. I have yet to do painting, I just need to do it, and to stop being so paranoid about our walls and carpet.

Arrange a picnic or get together with their nursery friends

There’s nothing better than seeing little people play together, so why not organise a picnic or a get together with their nursery group. This is great way for them all to see each other and start to form friendships outside of the nursery setting, it’s also lovely for the parents to get to know each other too. We did a similar thing with our nursery group and it really does help to start to form friendships.

Drop off and run

This is often the case for us at the moment, where I will just leave my child crying with the nursery staff. It’s heartbreaking, but I know that she’s going to be ok. In fact I know that the minute I leave, she’s absolutely fine. If you’re worried about doing this, then maybe have a chat to the nursery staff and ask if they can call you to reassure you that they are fine.

I hope you found these tips to be useful. I’m sure that we are just going through a phase and the nursery drop-off will be a lot easier again.

What are your top tips for dealing with difficult nursery drop-offs?

Claire x