Preschool - Help me feel sane, please 😭
My toddler is a little over two years old (2Y + 3M to be exact). I returned to work when she was around 5 months old, and since then, a family member watched her 4 days a week and my MIL watched her once a week while my husband and I are at work. That family member means the world to my daughter. She loves her more than anyone else, and sometimes she prefers her over me and I’m just thankful that my daughter got an extra grandmother figure in her life because my family aren’t really around and when they are, they’re not very affectionate.
Anyway, this family member has been having some health issues lately that required us to put our daughter in preschool 3 days a week. She goes to her bonus grandmother once a week, and my MIL once a week.
This is week 3, and her anxiety and crying are getting worse. Last night, she was crying saying she doesn’t want to school (we didn’t bring it up, she just randomly did in the middle of crying). And this morning she cried the second we left the house all the way to school (15 minute drive) and well into drop off.
The teachers say that she stops crying shortly after drop off, and last week when she was with her grandma, she talked positively to her about school and what they do before nap and that her teacher hugs her when she’s sad.
My question is, should we put her in school 5 days a week so she adjusts faster and then we can scale back to 4 days a week, if needed? I know predictability is important, but I feel bad taking away time away from either grandmas because she loves them so much and looks forward to seeing them (especially her bonus grandma). Currently, we do M, T, W, so she has a four day gap between school weeks. Should we do M, T, Th, F? Should we just commit to 5 days? She goes 8am-4pm, and unfortunately half days aren’t a possibility for us.
Help meee 😭 it breaks my heart seeing her like that and I don’t know what to do.