I have a 3 1/2 year old who I have had in care since she was a little over a year old. She has definitely had her days where she has cried a lot. Other days she is completely fine. She tells mom and dad she cries because she misses them. The days she cries it can be anywhere from an hour to all morning. Sometimes it is whimpering/crying and days like this morning was screaming/crying. I can deal with the whimper/crying, but the other is beyond distracting. I try to give her a quiet space to lay and cuddle with her blanket when she does this, but this morning, she was so loud there was no place I could put her where she wasn’t a huge distraction to the others. I was about to text for pick up when she changed to whimpering after about an hour of screaming. I have two younger ones who nap in the morning and they were struggling to fall asleep because of her crying.
I have noticed there is a pattern with her crying though recently. She likes to play with a couple kids who are part time. When they are here, she is fine. When they are not, she cries most of the morning. I don’t know a lot about anxiety. Is this anxiety if she only does this when they are not here? Is it possible they are a big enough distraction that she only misses mom and dad when they aren’t here?

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