Dealing with Infant Separation Anxiety in Infant Daycare

Separation anxiety is just a part of growing up for most infants. When you first enroll your child in infant daycare, the sudden change in routine will be difficult for your child to handle. That's okay. There are several things you can do to manage infant separation anxiety so the transition is easier to handle for your loved one.

Studies show that most infants begin struggling with separation anxiety around 6 months of age. New situations are difficult to handle, and sleeping patterns can become easily disrupted. Here are a few tips for easing separation anxiety.

 1. Spend extra time with your new caregiver — When you first find a new infant daycare to take your child to, you don't want to just drop your baby off and leave. Arrive at the facility early, and spend time together with your infant and the caregiver. Having the 3 of you together will help your child feel more comfortable with the caregiver. If possible, try to stay for the entire first session with your baby so that you're with each other throughout the whole first day. Then, leave the infant alone with the new caregiver for a short period of time the second day, and gradually work your way toward leaving the infant at the daycare alone the entire time.

 2. Let your baby know you're leaving — A lot of parents think if their infant is asleep they should sneak away so as not to disturb them when they drop them off at infant daycare. The truth is waking up to find out your parent isn't there is far more disturbing to a child than losing a little sleep when you wake him up to say goodbye. Leaving without saying goodbye breaks the trust you have built with your infant. Every time before you leave, follow a specific “goodbye” ritual. This could be something as simple as saying a few words about how you have to go “bye-bye” and giving your child a kiss on the head.

 3. Bring an object from home — Bringing a favorite toy or blanket from home will make your infant more comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings of daycare. It gives them a sense of security, making them feel a little more at home.

 4. Don't give in to your emotions — As a parent, seeing your child cry as you walk away is going to rip your heart out, but you must stay calm. If you keep going back every time your child starts to cry, he or she will never learn to cope with your absence. Realize that this is just a part of growing up, and your child will get through this.

 Separation anxiety is certainly a challenge to overcome, but by sticking with these guidelines both you and your an infant will grow stronger through these difficult times.

Parenting Tips -Some Advice For Parents

I try very hard to plant my basic philosophy of life into all my children. This site is built around my first parenting tip. Links to many more parenting tips can be found at the bottom of this page.

Always seek knowledge. This is why I stress the importance of filling your home with books and magazines. Raise your children with the mindset that learning is fun and then set the example. I am a self-taught father, fisherman, photographer, and computer nut. My house is full of these books and magazines and my nose is usually in one of them. My wife is even worse than me. She knows just about everything there is to be known about horses. If she does not know the answer to a question she can go to the bookshelf, pull the book and look it up in seconds. A big part of knowledge is not what you can retain but how fast can you find the answers. I love showing my children how to research a project or report. We look through the encyclopedias, check out the recent magazines, browse the bookshelf, and then check the internet before visiting the library. Knowing how and where to find the answers to all the questions is a pretty powerful bit of knowledge.

My mom was a big influence on me in regards to seeking knowledge. While working on her higher degree at University she also worked in the library. I would visit her after school when I had a project to work on. She always amazed me how fast she could locate books, magazine articles, and any other needed resources about a particular topic. I always found it fascinating to be in a huge building surrounded by that much knowledge.

Make sure your children have an abundance of books and magazines to read and enjoy at all times. Support your school at the book sales and make the library a regular habit. Also, make sure your children all receive a magazine each month with their name on it.

Develop good character. One of my other studies has been in the area of self-motivation. A lot of what I believe comes from this extensive research. It was during this study that I read this wonderful definition of good character. Good character is the ability to follow through with a resolution long after the mood with which you made the resolution is gone. I loved this quote so much I have never forgotten it. Not a day goes by I don't repeat it to myself, and when I tried to live up to this quote my whole life changed.

I build above ground swimming pools. The pool business is very seasonal, it has to be over 100 digress outside before people decide they need a pool to cool off in. We work in backyards all day and then I spend most of my evenings on the phone scheduling more jobs. When I am on the phone I am inside with a cool drink and the AC on. I may schedule a job for a week from Thursday, between 3-5 in the afternoon. When we arrive there on Thursday we have already built three pools and the temperature is well over 100. I and my crew are dead tired and not looking forward to two more hours of work. A good character says we arrive on time and do the job as promised.

Another way to look at this is to do what you promise to do. If you make a commitment to anyone in any way, write it down, carry it with you in your wallet, purse, or daily planner and remove only when the commitment has been fulfilled. This will teach you to say no once in a while and you will be reminded daily of a commitment that needs to be taken care of. Don't say it if you don't mean it, your kids will see this and catch on to this great philosophy.

A very simple way to put this in children's terms is with pets. Children make a big resolution to that pet when they are young and cute. A year or two later the pet has grown up and is either cared for and loved on a daily basis or left ignored in the corner somewhere. Teach your children to follow thru with their resolutions.

Parenting Is Not Always Easy

Parenting will bring along a lot of different parenting issues that do not fit into an age category.  They are general issues and we will bring some of those into focus here.  I would like to invite you to my book sections where many of these problems in parenting are covered

Advantages of Teaching Children to Read Early

Before a child learns to read, he or she must first learn the spoken language, and this is one of the first instances where family members such as dad, mom, older siblings, and grandparents play an important role in "teaching" the child the spoken English language. Whether young children realize it or not, they gain very early exposure to the alphabet when parents sing the alphabet song to them. They begin to develop language skills by being read to and spoken to. One of the keys to teaching children reading early on is by exposing them to alphabet letters, books, and reading to them often.

Reading nursery rhymes and children's books are an important part of getting children to understand the printed text. Talk to your children, and talk to them often, whether they understand or not is not important when they're just babies. The more you talk and interact with your little ones, the better they will develop. The key is exposure, and repeated exposure. Once your child learns to speak, you can begin teaching them reading at home.