How long did it take your LO to settle into pre-school?

[rumandbiscuits]

My LG is 2.9 (3 in April) and has recently moved up to pre-school with the 3-4 year olds as the nursery class thought she was ready.

She only started yesterday so as I expected has been getting upset about going in which I find heartbreaking and am starting to worry she's gone too soon. However, it is still such early days so I'm wondering what age your LO was when they started pre-school and how long it took them to settle in?

Anyone?

Not quite the same but DS goes to day care and they put him straight into the preschool room when he started at start of Sept. He turned 3 in Nov. It is only this week going in (the Christmas break might have helped) that we haven't had reluctance and tears at drop off - so 4+ mths! He only goes 2 days a week though which may also account for it but I do regret not speaking up in Sept when they started him straight into preschool room. He hadn't been with other children since March and I think being straight in with a group of older children was probably the issue. If I was you I would speak to them and see what they suggest.

I think all children are different. DS loves nursery, talked about nothing else over their 4 week Christmas break. Yet on Monday morning when it was time to go back in he hid behind my legs screaming he didn't want to go in! Then when he was picked up he screamed because he didn't want to come home! 🙈

Both my kids loved nursery and seemed to prefer it to being at home! They had lots of friends and never want to go home when I pick them up. However, a friend of mine (with a younger child) always has issues with her DD (especially since covid and staff wearing face visors) and she doesn't want to go. It really depends on the child. Either way with a bit of routine they'll settle into it.

My 3.5yo DS is at a private nursery. He never got to experience the transition from toddler to pre-school due to covid.

When nursery closed he was with the toddler group. At the beginning of March the staff started to talk about him having settling in sessions in pre-school as his birthday is in May. A few hours here and there. I was really reluctant to move him to pre-school as he is so tiny and has a speech delay so I felt in March he wasn't ready to start moving. Of course that never happened.

When he started at nursery again in June he started at a different nursery as his original nursery closed (same company, different locations). So he had to adjust to not only going back to nursery from being at home but also a brand new one with different staff. The number of children present was so small that they mixed the toddlers in with the pre-schoolers all day over the summer. Once September hit he then just got moved to pre-school.

I guess the 2.5months where they all mixed as one group was a bit of a transition for him. But officially he just got moved in September.

He does argue every morning about not going to nursery, but every day he loves it and never wants to leave. There was never a noticeable difference in his attitude when he officially became a pre-schooler, only that his speech has come on in leaps and bounds and he's now finally potty trained.

Thank you for all of your responses. Really interesting to read and it just shows all children are so different. She's had her first week (well 3 days) now so won't be due back until Tuesday now. Overall her keyworker said she has settled well and she seems to be in a good mood when she gets home. She still tells me she doesn't want to go in the mornings and she wants to go back to her old nursery class and this morning was the first morning she cried properly when I left her there. She has been potty trained since October and had the odd accident here and there but today is the first day she has soiled herself which worried me a little. She soiled herself at pre-school, her keyworker said she was having her snack and it just came over her and she didn't have time to get to the toilet. I was worried then that maybe she is too nervous to ask to go or felt anxious but she went to the toilet again when she got home and my OH said it was very soft and therefore he thinks perhaps she's just got a bit of a dodgey tummy today.
Hopefully the experience won't have scarred her and things goes ok next week. I've surprised myself at how anxious I've been about it this week (think I've been worse than her!!)

My son started settling sessions at preschool in December (a few hrs a day once a week moving up to 3/4 of a day before Christmas) and a new childminder aswell at the same time, two days a week each from this week going back after christmas. He went from being with the same childminder from being 11m old so basically saw her as an extension of our family really so I was incredibly worried about how he would settle.
First week before Christmas he waltzed in first day, complained second day and by the third it was a definate I don't want to go, having to peel him off me crying etc - at this point I was thinking 'should I work less/this is my fault/how can I leave him this upset' etc. But he was mostly fine once I'd gone with a few 'whens mummy coming'. I did however really feel he was ready for the move to preschool, he really needed that next step in learning, experiences and social development. So I did in my gut feel he was ready to cope with it. I would say after the second week he was comfortable and there were no more tears and lots of chat about what he'd done that day.

We've gone back this week and had tears again the first two days, this morning lots of 'mummy I love you, mummy I don't want to leave you' but got to nursery and he waltzed in and had a great day!

Give it time, they say anything between 2-4 weeks to settle. I've also found that really quick drop offs work wonders, like hey answer the door and he goes in, I say 'see you later on' and that's it - this 99% of the time works. Any chat at all that delays him going in ends with upset or tears.

But if you really feel she not quite there yet after 2-4 weeks speak to them about a plan. If you think when you start a new job your nervous for the first week or two and then start to settle once it's abit more familiar.

@SlB09

My son started settling sessions at preschool in December (a few hrs a day once a week moving up to 3/4 of a day before Christmas) and a new childminder aswell at the same time, two days a week each from this week going back after christmas. He went from being with the same childminder from being 11m old so basically saw her as an extension of our family really so I was incredibly worried about how he would settle. First week before Christmas he waltzed in first day, complained second day and by the third it was a definate I don't want to go, having to peel him off me crying etc - at this point I was thinking 'should I work less/this is my fault/how can I leave him this upset' etc. But he was mostly fine once I'd gone with a few 'whens mummy coming'. I did however really feel he was ready for the move to preschool, he really needed that next step in learning, experiences and social development. So I did in my gut feel he was ready to cope with it. I would say after the second week he was comfortable and there were no more tears and lots of chat about what he'd done that day.

We've gone back this week and had tears again the first two days, this morning lots of 'mummy I love you, mummy I don't want to leave you' but got to nursery and he waltzed in and had a great day!

Give it time, they say anything between 2-4 weeks to settle. I've also found that really quick drop offs work wonders, like hey answer the door and he goes in, I say 'see you later on' and that's it - this 99% of the time works. Any chat at all that delays him going in ends with upset or tears.

But if you really feel she not quite there yet after 2-4 weeks speak to them about a plan. If you think when you start a new job your nervous for the first week or two and then start to settle once it's abit more familiar.

How old was your LB in Dec when he started?

He was 3 & 2 months, I'd actually delayed it thee months as I didn't feel he was quite ready x