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Ariana 02:02 PM 02-28-2018
What does your transition schedule look like for new kids? Do you have one or do they just come to care without transition days? I am contemplating either modifying my schedule or eliminating it altogether.

My schedule is as follows for part time care:
Visit with parent for up to an hour, parent leaves and child stays for another hour. Child is picked up before lunch.

Parents stays for 10-15minutes, child stays and has lunch, then goes home. I may attempt an afternoon nap if child is so far adjusting well.

Regular day with parent at home if child is adjusting well.

I am not sure if a transition into care helps in any way really because the kids who didn’t adjust never adjusted and the kids who did, did! I have always done it this way and most of my kids adjust just fine.

What do you do
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happymom 02:18 PM 02-28-2018
I'm just a parent but we never had any type of transition days at any daycare we've gone to.
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Blackcat31 02:21 PM 02-28-2018
After the family is enrolled and provides a start date, they just show up and drop the child off and go.

I reassure them that I'll call or text if child doesn't settle in but for the most part, I have no transition routine.

I let the parent know ahead of time how I do things and then they drop off their child and let me do my thing.
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mamamanda 02:32 PM 02-28-2018
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
After the family is enrolled and provides a start date, they just show up and drop the child off and go.

I reassure them that I'll call or text if child doesn't settle in but for the most part, I have no transition routine.

I let the parent know ahead of time how I do things and then they drop off their child and let me do my thing.
Same here. I think having a parent stick around makes it harder for the child to adjust. Plus it throws off my routine with the other kids. I don't mind being flexible when I need to be, but I really love my routine.
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storybookending 02:38 PM 02-28-2018
I don’t do any of the things you mentioned. Kids come in and it’s a normal day from the get go. They dive in and learn our routine hard and fast. I don’t want any child spending that 15 minutes here with mom and dad at drop off as I don’t want to promote a bad habit. They come to play once to meet me outside of daycare hours and I leave it at that. I don’t like the half day thing either as in my mind that shows them that anytime they act sad or off that mom and dad will be called and they will be picked up.
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Ariana 03:54 PM 02-28-2018
Thanks everyone!

I made a transition routine based off of what we did at the centre where I worked and also talking to some other providers. I thought it was the norm I am happy to see it is perfectly acceptable to not have one because to be honest I don’t know if it benefits anyone. I am one to think that when it comes to adjusting, more of a ‘rip the band aid off’ approach is better.

To be fair I have only ever had one kid not transition well to daycare and I don’t think my transition schedule had anything to do with it! I didn’t use a transition schedule for one kid and she did fine without it
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Homebody 04:08 PM 02-28-2018
Most children don't act the same way with mom and dad around as they do when they are away from them anyway. Whenever I do interview, the kids sometimes act clingy and shy with mom and dad there, but on their first day after drop off they are fine. They may shed a few tears at drop off, but as soon as mom or dad pull out of the driveway they are fine. All my DC kids however have already been in daycares before they have been to mine. If I ever get one that has no DC experience and the parent is nervous, I might suggest dropping them for an hour or two for a couple of days to get them use to it.
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jenboo 06:53 PM 02-28-2018
They just drop off on the first day. I send pictures the first couple days.
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DaveA 03:12 AM 03-01-2018
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
After the family is enrolled and provides a start date, they just show up and drop the child off and go.

I reassure them that I'll call or text if child doesn't settle in but for the most part, I have no transition routine.

I let the parent know ahead of time how I do things and then they drop off their child and let me do my thing.
This what I do. I'll send a few pics throughout the first few days or couple of text how on how DCK's day is going, but that's pretty much it. I tell new parents it takes 3 weeks for a child to really get used to a change such as new daycare, so don't be surprised if there are random rough mornings/ days after they've "settled in" the first few days.
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