Toddler afraid to go to nursery

[TheGnomesAreComing]

Hi all! We have a little problem and I'm hoping for some ideas.

My (just turned) 3 year old has been miserable at nursery: he has been crying a lot at drop off, and is always saying how he does not want to go. We weren't sure why, but yesterday he finally told us it is because he's afraid of the puppet. The puppet is like the nursery's mascot: in the morning the kids wake the puppet up together, and the group leaders have the puppet sing songs and tell stories and such (it's like a sock puppet)... It's meant to be cute and all other kids in my DS's group seem to love the ritual, and they adore the puppet, but not DS. The puppet really scares him. He's always been quite an imaginative child.

Any advice how we can help him, aside from taking him to a different nursery?

I think moving him might be a bit premature until you've spoken to the Nursery and exposed how he feels. Maybe the puppet can have a little break for a while or your DS can do another activity when the puppet is out?

Oh, poor boy! Yes, I agree that talking to the nursery would be a good idea. If they're a good one, I'm sure they'll be able to come up with some ideas on how to tackle this. If they won't, they're probably not the nursery for you and that'll answer the question of whether to stay there.

Speak to the nursery. I guarantee you he won’t be the first to be scared of it!