Toddler Hysterical at Nursery Drop Off

[Charbar123]

My 3yo started a new nursery over a month ago. The nursery is lovely and he always has a great day and comes out smiling but he is hysterical at drop off. Sometimes from the moment he wakes up in the morning. It used to be when we arrived at nursery but now he cries the whole way there and hysterically cries when we arrive. I just don't know what to do to make nursery drop off a more pleasant experience for everyone. Any advice would be great! He never used to do this at the old nursery

Hello, this is my son currently, he’s only two weeks in. Has it got any better for you? My heart breaks each time.

He wants to be with you instead of going to nursery. Sorry and I get that it must be a necessity. But it's the truth of things.

Yes so much better! He was upset for a couple of months and then suddenly he just wasn't anymore. He loves nursery now. One thing that did help was going to a party with the children from nursery. It meant I could talk about the other children there etc and he could form friendships with mum there for backup! It's really hard but hopefully you won't be dealing with it for long

Sorry you're going through this OP. I had a bout of this with my little one and the nursery helped us to try and make the transition easier with the below...

• We moved from dropping him in the room to the door so I wasn't lingering
• Told DS he could take a toy in with him
• I was armed with a snack he could eat when he went in
• Asked what he was looking forward to playing with at nursery and asked the teachers immediately at drop off what he had said

It will only be a phase, a hard one at that but it will get easier 🤍

Your kid doesn’t want to go to nursery, he obviously doesn’t feel safe there and he’s too young to explain it to you. I wish I had listened to my child when they also didn’t want to go to school because it turned out to be an awful experience for her and she still has a lot of lingering anxiety

Thank you to those who offered helpful and encouraging advice 💛 it’s early days and I’m glad to see I’m not alone and a few people went through this. We’ll persevere, he does settle very quickly when I’ve left I’m told.