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DC Public and Public Charter Schools
Dropoff this morning was brutal
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Anonymous
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My kid screamed and cried and ran after me into the hall when I tried to leave. She had been in a private preschool, so I had hoped it would be ok.
3:15 can't come soon enough. |
Anonymous
| I would give it time--my son cried for 4 straight weeks at his charter school preschool when he started it. By the end of the year, he didn't want to be picked up. It was more about him and having a tough time transitioning, than it was about the school. Hang in there. |
Anonymous
| OP, that sounds awful! please know that your child likely stopped crying the minute you left, and probably made a good friend (or 2) today. hang in there! |
Anonymous
| Same think happened with my oldest when he was in pre-k. Now he is a happy well adjusted middle schooler who barely acknowledges me when I drop him off at school. It will get better and yes, they can make you feel awful. |
Anonymous
| If the schools had a web cam you woudl see that your child did okay most of the day and they just need to get into a routine. It gets better. |
Anonymous
What difference does it make whether she's in private or public school? |
Anonymous
| When we transitioned my son, he cried for a month straight-- ALL DAY (according to his teacher). By the third month, I couldn't drag him out of there. He loved it. It was then that we began to notice his tendency to resist change. Once he attaches to something he has difficulty letting go. If it's a good school, they know how to deal with it and as PPs have said, more than likely he stopped crying the minute you walked out the door. My daughter would turn on the waterworks full blast when my husband dropped her off (she was great at dramatic effect). Give it time. |
Anonymous
 I was trying to say that she was in a different school before starting her public school this morning. No need to get your back up.
But since you mention it, her previous teachers were fantastic about dropoff. Lots of hugs and cuddles and immediate engagement for the reluctant kids. The two teachers in her new room left the parents and kids to their own devices, and didn't attempt to ease the transition at all. I hope it was just first-day confusion, and they can show a little more understanding for the children in the future. |
Anonymous
| When you pick him up, he may also be a mess due to poor napping and so much stimulation all day. Honestly, anywhere he goes will be hard for him right now. But, he was likely fine most of the day. When they started PS, my sons cried & cried at dropoff, and were basket cases when I picked them up, but were fine and happy by all reports the rest of the day. Whatever you do, do not judge the school by these first weeks. It is all about your child adapting and has very little to do with the school. |
Anonymous
| So we're into week two now. For some reason, my daughter (PS3) has gotten worse about dropoffs as the days go on...How are other kids doing? |
Anonymous
Don't even joke about this on DCUM! The helicopters will start calling the principals today! |
Anonymous
| No webcam but some renovated/new school building have cameras in the classroom. The office staff can watch the hallways and classrooms. |
Anonymous
| Our DS started preschool soon after he turned 2 at a very loving and warm Montessori school with teachers who were terrific with the kids, and knew how to do the dropoff transition really well. After a week or so of tearful goodbyes, all was great. Until about a year later. During the next year when he was three (which, I note parenthetically, was a far more brutal year than two!) he began with the tearful goodbyes again even though he otherwise seemed happy at school and was flourishing. And it wasn't just him either. After investigating to see if something had changed or gone awry at the school (nothing had), including talking to other parents who were in the same boat but could not understand why, it just seemed to be this phase that we went through where he seemed to resist leaving us. Then one day, it just stopped and all was back to normal. Maybe someone else cracked the code of the child's mind during these years, but I sure havent. Fast forward to PK-4 at a new charter, and the transition was seamless and he really seems to enjoy school as much as he did his old one. Life at 4.5 years old is soooo much easier on the parents! And I take small solace in the fact that his being upset to leave me must mean that he enjoys our time together a lot. Good luck and give it time. |
Anonymous
| Agreed. Three is a tough age in general, 'cause the kids really know that you're going, so they're very hard to distract. DD loves her PS and is playing happily there, but she's upset every morning. Check with the teacher ... I would bet that DD is fine much of the day. Give it two solid weeks and you'll start to see improvements, and hang in there in the meantime! |
Anonymous
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My daughter would chat happily about her friends at pre-K and then have to be peeled off my legs when I dropped her off. The teacher/s would make a big difference--if they called to her to help them with something, or asked her to do something, or just gave her a hug.
At her new kindergarden (outside DC), they lined the kids up outside on the playground the first day, class by class, and the teachers marched the kids in. No tears or clinging. OK, some tears by parents. Today, day 2, no parents allowed in the school building--older kids walked the child to his/her classroom. Less fuss. I was impressed. Drop-off was smooth because parental involvement/presence in the classroom was minimal. At pick-up time, we can ooh and aahh over the art project or whatever. |