Quote From: newsoulWow, what a tough situation as a mom - broke my heart reading about it! My daughter is currently four and will be turning 5 in Aug. She completed this past year of pre-school. I work 3.5 days a week and when I am at work my kids are either with their grandma or dad. So my daughter had never been away from family until I took her to pre-school. I am glad I did but it was hard for both of us in the beginning. I am not a professional in this area but I would think that your sons behavior is a bit extreme since it is continuing and not improving. My daughter would cry in the morning that she didn't want to go to school and when we got there more tears and clinging to me. After the 2nd week she was over it and everyday became more comfortable and confident. I had to be careful not to feed into her fears or let her know how sad it made me to see her upset. After Christmas and Spring Break we started all over with crying but she got over it. By the end of the school year she would kiss me good-bye and take off with her friends and at the end of the day was sad to leave. I think your son may be having a hard time and needs some new coping mechanisms. Perhaps you should speak with his teacher outside of school hours or a counselor that could give you ideas to help him find a new way to deal with his anxiety besides sitting at the window and crying. Continue to encourage him to make one friend and praise him for the small steps he takes to towards independence. It is ok if he choses to play alone - some kids personalities are not as social as others. The goal would be to each day make progress toward him participating and not crying. He will come around. Is there any other major life changes happening for him right now?
Thanks for your response!
No he hasnt had any major life changes. We actually are really scheduled and structured with him and havent had any major changes to speak of. It has been 4 weeks now and it seems to be getting a little better. He does adopt his teacher as his pseudo mom, following her everywhere. If she leaves for a break he waits with his nose against the door sobbing until she returns. If he wakes from a nap and she isnt in the room it throws him off. He doesnt, however, wait at the window. I talked to her about it and we decided she would have him sit on the couch and cry if he wanted, but NOT at that window, and he will only sit there for 10 minutes at most before deciding he doesnt like to sit on that couch. The main concern that he has is that we have lost him. He will continually say, I am lost, or I cant find you, or can you hear me at school when I am crying for you? He tells all of the teachers that he has lost his parents and they cant find him. I am not sure what is going on in his little brain but I reassure him he is not lost and we will NEVER forget him there. We try to stick to the schedule drop off, pick up same time, on the nose so that his schedule wont be disturbed. He has been doing better as far as the window goes which is nice. But I cant help but think that if he made friends and was a little more social it would make the day go by a lot faster and become more fun.
