2 year old misses her mum help!

[AlexisDavid]

Hi so I’m babysitting my niece today, I see her weekly but I’ve started to babysit her. When she comes to my house she won’t eat because she misses her mum. All day long she will repeat I want to go get mummy, she will say this for hours on end, if I don’t answer she gets more upset but even when I say yes she still asks.

I’ve tried everything, favourite tv shows, out in the garden, toys, favourite food. Obviously I know she misses her mum but is there anything I can do or suggestions

Is there anywhere you can take her? Like the park or a cheap day out (like a farm etc) just something to do to keep her busy?

I sometimes babysit my niece who lives with MIL. I have a DS same age both 2, I take them to soft play as it keeps them occupied and takes my nieces mind off MiL

That’s so hard for you and your niece. Can you take her on a couple of really good days out (soft play, farm park…that sort of thing) so she’s distracted for the day and also really looks forward to seeing you. Then you can take it down to more normal days, trips to the park etc. I do find that children are more easily distracted outside.

A visual timetable - worked wonders for my DD when she was much younger.

So you break down the day into sections so she knows what is going to happen and at what point her Mum is going to come back

www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/T-C-004-Visual-Timetable-Nursery-FS1

www.earlyyearseducator.co.uk/Features/article/developing-a-visual-timetable

And then if you are doing this on a regular basis she will start to figure out what is going to happen before her Mum gets back

Ahh love the timetable. She loves to know what we’re doing and when so I will try that. I know it must be hard on her bless her, even when I take her to the park or soft play she’s still repeating herself over and over. I’ve tried it all

Yes it really helped DD when she was away from me to know what was coming and what steps she had to go through for me to come back. It also reassured her as well that I was coming back

It is good for learning as well (words on the card) and she used to help as well with what tasks she wanted to go so it wins on a lot of levels!

Time is a hard concept for 2 years old. That is why the visual timetable works really well, especially when based around food times, so she knows the pattern of the day (all toddlers know when food should be!)

Nursery have done a timetable for my 2 year old and it's really helped her - she carried with her constantly at first, now apparently she just goes to get it if she's missing me and it reassures her. Definitely worth a try.