I ran across this post this week.  Long Daycare Hours ~ How do you deal emotionally? I found it on Mothering.com, it was a plea for support from a mom that was struggling with how many hours her child was going to be in child care.  This made me sad, and I hope that she finds her strength to do what she has to. While also finding the great child care that she and her child deserve. It is a hard, hard job for parents to let go of their children into the care of someone else. I feel it is part of my job to help the families I work with cope with this type of situation.  This is a real emotion that parents often have, and I am going to share some ways that you can use to help support your own families that might be struggling with this same emotion.

1.  I always allow my families that seem to be struggling  to call or text me as much as they need. I often send them back a picture via my phone if their phone is compatible. Isn’t technology great.

2. I keep them up-to date with pictures and video that I put on my Little Scholar website. So, if they get lonely or missing their kids they can see them in action.

3.  I am never too busy at pick-up time to tell a fun story about their child.  This lets them know that I take the time to make a relationship with their child and that they are important to me.

4. I have lots of parent cafe’s or get together’s.  I will try to do this, especially after I have enrolled a new child.  This lets the family know that they are not alone and very much welcomed.

5. If I have a child or children that are with me for long hours, I try to bring them into the fold of my family.  I make my environment more of an extended home.

These are some of the ways that I use to help my families cope with their children being with me for extended hours.  It breaks my heart having to send a parent to work knowing that they are struggling with leaving a child.