I just left my son in the care of a babysitter. She lives about 1 & 1/2 miles away, and we are fortunate that she has provided her own two year old as entertainment and incentive.
I stayed and had coffee and chatted for a while, getting to know her beyond 'friend's friend's daughter', ignoring at least two attempts by Bubbles to get me to 'gogogogo' with him out the door (back to the car, no doubt) when he saw his backpack and caught on to my plan. I double checked (who I am I kidding? checked for the tenth time at least) that she was up for the challenge of a potential 24 minute cry (precisely the amount of time he cried yesterday after I left him at a speech appointment in town), and the separation anxiety of a child who has never had to deal with separation before, and she assured me that she could...and I reached into my pocket, pulled out some scissors, and *snip* cut that apron string.
In theory, I don't agree with the sneaking out, but in reality? Way better.
My goal is not to get him to say goodbye to mama, rather as much as it getting him to understand that he can be without mama and still be safe and even have fun. We'll get to the goodbye part later. I want him to be successful at this, and for that to happen, he needs to be distracted. A dinosaur movie worked nicely for both two year olds (the talking one, and mine), and I slipped out the back door. Oh, judge me if you must.
I told her I'd be back by noon, and I haven't yet received a phone call...tick tick tick...
Update:
Three whole minutes of crying. THREE! She timed it! We are going back tomorrow or Monday.
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6 comments:
Whew! 3 minutes is totally doable. Good for you guys!
Baby steps? What are you talking about? That is a big 'ol giant step!!!
only 3 minutes! damn that's pretty good.
Yay. My 12 year old was like that. I had to take him out of preschool, cuz he was crying so much. I also walked him to school until he was in third grade. I dont mean just walked but stayed with him for a few minutes each day. I know that may seem extreme, but I didn't mind. So my point is some kids just like their mama better then others, and are more attached then others. I haven't had that problem with my other three. My Dyllan is still really attached to me to this day and only stays at a close friends or at my moms.
good for you for trying! it's gut-wrenching, isn't it? it will get easier, and mama love is not such a bad thing anyway.
Nice article.. Awesome though... thank you posting such a good one..
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