For parents and children, the end of the day can be a busy and stressful time. When picking up young children from their child care center … are we connecting with our child and child’s teacher … OR are we on the phone, sending texts or focused on where we have to rush off to next? Author and parenting speaker Bill Corbett provides some tips for parents to make the transition at the end of day more relaxed and enjoyable for parent and child.
5 TIPS FOR PICKING YOUR CHILD UP AT CHILD CARE
1. Find a way to decompress when leaving the office. Make exercise a new component of your afternoon or take a few moments to just breathe deeply and meditate. Your child is important and your work will still be there later.
2. Leave your phone in the car and “show up” in the moment 100% for your child. Wear a face and a smile that says, “I’m here for you and nothing else exists for the moment.”
3. Get down to your child’s eye level while he is talking to you. He has so much to share with you that transpired during the time you’ve been a part. Nothing is more important to him than what’s on his mind at the moment.
4. Keep quiet and take this opportunity to listen. I know that you’re running short on time and you have so much to accomplish over the next few hours, but your child doesn’t care about that right now.
5. Take your child to a park bench or some other quiet area for just 10 – 15 minutes to reconnect. She has so much to tell you about and craves a few minutes of dedicated attention to reconnect. If you give your child 100% of your attention well enough, it will be much easier to get her cooperation to go on to the next thing you have to accomplish.
Child care teachers can help also making by themselves accessible to parents at the end of the day, to brief the parent on their child’s day and answer any questions they may have. These tips would be great to post outside classrooms or include in an information packet for parents at the beginning of the year.
In response to a reader question below … here is a blog post more specific to helping babies transition to child care.
Bill Corbett is the author of the award-winning parenting book series, LOVE, LIMITS, & LESSONS: A PARENT’S GUIDE TO RAISING COOPERATIVE KIDS (in English and in Spanish) and the executive producer and host of the public access television show CREATING COOPERATIVE KIDS. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and provides parent coaching and keynote presentations to parent and professional audiences across the country. Images used here with permission from Bill Corbett.
June 21, 2012
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