[alinne1026]

Kaila starts nursery school tomorrow and I'm honestly terrified! She'll be 3 in November, so I know she's one of the younger nursery kids. I guess my fear is that she is going to sob all day because she has never been away from us EVER. All she knows is me, dh, her siblings, and my parents. She cries when I leave to drive Keira to school in the morning and she cries when I take out the garbage!

I guess I just assume she may rise to the occasion. She really seems interested in the idea of going (i.e. the backpack, the schedule, reading, singing, painting) but I know she has no clue how long she's going to be separated from us.

It's not like she has to go; I voluntarily signed her up because she is sooo ready to learn and desparately needs to socialize with her peers. Her sister was a pro at going to daycare/nursery school because I had to send her from the time she was 6 weeks old. Since I've been working from home since 2007, the two little ones have not had to go to daycare and we're all spoiled now.

I'm trying to stay positive for both of us because I really want her to succeed but...man...I'm struggling! I know that we can pull her out if it were to be a horrible experience for her but I think it's the fact that I want for it to work so badly that I'm getting myself all worked into a tizzy. I mean, what if they don't know that she has to have her juice in a sippy, or that she hates to have a drop of water on her hands...(lol...all those little 'Kaila' idiosyncracies)? Sigh....

Any tips are greatly appreciated

With Grace I tried to make it clear that I would be back to get her. I told her what she would do that day. I know at her Preschool they have snack last. I told Grace, "You will do circle time, paint, sing, play, and then have snack. As soon as snack is over I"ll be there to get you." Now Grace is very social so I don't know if she needed that but I like to think it helped. I know it helped me LOL. I kept looking at my watch thinking, "now she's in circle time...now she's have play time..now she's eat snack."

Good luck

[starrsgirl]

Oh hugs! I haven't been there exactly, but when I take Emmett to the gym daycare, I just try to be soooooooo overly excited that we are "going to play at the gym" and then soooooo excited to pick him up and ask him how his day was.

I think she will do great! Just remember the teachers are pros! And it doesn't have to be exactly how you guys do things at home...she will just learn that there's a way things are done at school and a way at home...like maybe water on her hands will be ok to her at school, haha.

Big hugs to you! Keep us posted!

[shockandawe]

All I can offer you is a hug. I think that Heather had some good suggestions, and Liz made great points too.

All you can do is try. Just remember to trust your instinct. If she's ready to learn, and she gets the opportunity, you may just be surprised at how well she adjusts.

Keep thinking positive mamma. You will both survive this.

[alinne1026]

Thanks, Ladies!!! I did let her know that I would be there after she had snack and played outside and we talked through the whole process of how she'd get there, who would get her from the car, etc. She had it down by the time my Mom dropped her of this morning (I didn't for fear of her breaking down...and me too!).

She did so great today. I was so happy when I picked her up and she had a great big smile on her face and yelled "bye!" to her teachers and friends. They said she did wonderfully. What a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

It's quite crazy having 2 of my 3 LO's in "school" now. Trying to manage 2 kid schedules, packing lunches/preparing clothes, coordinating rides, attending after school activities, too much 1st grader homework, and a full time job is starting to hit me hard. Oh, yes...and housework (boo). I'll save that for another thread though