Pre school induction

[woodford]

Hi, my two and half year old son is staring preschool next week and I was wondering what your collective thoughts are on:
i) a phased in induction, ie half hour the first day, an hour the second day and so on, working up to a half day of 3 hours
and
ii) what to do on the first day of school, drop and leave or stay if he gets upset.

I'm a bag of nerves at the very thought of him going to school, on his own etc and know that it's pretty normal for mummies to feel this way but it still doesn't stop the butterflies or sickie feelings!

Any hints, tips or experience stories would be really grateful.

Thanks.

This is very pertinent to me as my ds2 started pre-school today.

It really depends on the child, and you have to play it by ear. For me, ds1 got very upset, and I had to stay with him for a while, and then made a break for it after half an hour or so, leaving him crying (I'm told he stopped the moment I left). It took half a term before he could be left happily, and he still had the occasional wobbly day.

Ds2 ran in today, didn't look back or even notice I'd gone, and certainly didn't get upset.

Am sure it was a huge relief today that you didn't have to go through that again! Thanks for your story. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens next week. I'm still so anxious about the whole thing but I'll get over myself!! Just hope for his sake he settles quickly and it's not too upsetting for him. Thanks again.

Hi,
What is the preschool's policy? For my son's preschool I stayed with him the entire first session (which was charged on a lesser rate) - and then left him on the second session. In my case he was totally fine, trotted off without a backwards glance (sniff!)
However even if they have a policy you'll probably be able to tweak it depending on how your child is. I know a mother whose son is very, very upset at preschool (the same preschool as my son's) - and she hasn't left him totally yet, after half a term. So they really are flexible.

Thanks for that Gargula, the preschool is pretty flexible too so I'll play it by ear on Monday and cross fingers, toes and all other limbs that he settles.