Allow your child to accompany you on your initial visits to the school.

Allow your child to bring something personal to the school on the first day.

Encourage your child to play upon arrival. Sometimes it is helpful if the parent arrives early enough to play in the activity center with the child for just a minute.

Once the parent decides to leave, he/she needs to hug the child and say that it is time for the parent to leave and that you will return to pick up the child. It is important that the parent do so, without the temptation of staying if their child begins to cry.

It is best that parents not stand at the door or window with an expectation that the child will cry. Your child will then feel this apprehension and respond to the parent’s fears.

Generally, young children adapt to a new program within the first few weeks of school.

Parents need to be aware that their child may need extra time or more physical contact in the form of hugs and kisses and rocking during the first days of a new routine.