But now, it's the night before we go, and I'm totally freaked out!!
What if she screams all day? They're going to hate her! What if she pukes on them first thing? What if they don't feed her right? What if they lay her on the floor and she refluxes all over their carpet? What if she chokes on something? What if I didn't label her stuff well enough? What if I forget something?
There are so many things to think about that I've spent the last 2 hours packing her bag and making a special "journal" to keep in communication with her teachers.
They asked me to write out feeding instructions. I drew pictures. I also wrote out what to do if her button comes out for some reason (they have a real fear of this, although, it's never happened...yet). I put this all in one of those composition notebooks I had leftover from my classroom years ago.
Then I made a section for communication between me and the teachers. I need to know if she poops, I need to know how much liquid she got. These are things I obsess over on a daily basis to make sure my child is healthy!! I want to know if she threw up every time they fed her, I want to know if she screamed all day and they couldn't calm her down. And I want to know if she had a great day and took a nap and interacted with all the other little kids and sat independently at the table.
Do you think I'm asking them to do too much? I mean, it's Special Needs daycare after all, they've got to know they're going to get some high maintenance kids (parents?).
I'm sure I will calm down after a couple of weeks, but tonight I am not calm. I'm not sure I'm even going to sleep tonight.
I'll be sure to report back tomorrow and let you know how it went.
I'd rather have my day care provider seeing to the needs of my child and the other children in their care than writing in some book. You may find your request also duplicates efforts. Depending on the age and care needs any centers already log the information and will either discuss the info with you at home time, have the log on
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I also hope you have planned to spend a week or so, transitioning into care. Our center encouraged parents to plan on spending 2 to 3 full days, then half days, then an hour or so before the child is left alone for the first time. This gave us plenty of time to share information, and get comfortable with the people who would be caring for our children. It also gives the kiddos a chance to get comfortable.
In the end Sadie will scream because it is a new environment and the people she knows best are not providing care. If you have chosen a safe place with competent and caring staff in time she will come to like it or at least tolerate being away from home
Good luck. Be vigilant and confident in your choice. Then try to relax.
All very normal things that I also did and worried about even with my neuro typical little ones. I think I wrote a whole page on feeding for my boy and he is a great eater! haha normal mommy worries. My son's daycare send him home every day with a slip of paper that has a chart/checklist they fill out... BM, Wet, feeding, how much he ate, naps, his mood..so on and so on. If they don't have one of these, make one, this will be easier to fill in and quicker for them, than writing. Abbey (my special needs kido) has not started daycare yet, but I'm sure I will be the same :) On another note...yeah for Saddie...what a big girl!!
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