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hat Happy Baby!
I should preface this post by saying that I do not believe in the CIO (Cry it Out) Method. And for me that means that I have never let my son E cry for more than 5 minutes. He has always been a very easy going child so I trust him that when he needs something, he will let me know and I don't ever want to ignore him or let him think that I don't care.
In our church when kids turn 18 months they go into the Nursery. My son went just fine the first Sunday but the following Sunday, he was not interested and began to cry when we dropped him, I agreed to let him "figure it out" for a few minutes but after that, if he was still uncomfortable I would go in with him. Well he wasn't so either my husband or I ended up sitting in the class with him.
After a couple weeks of this I decided that Nursery wasn't necessary and if he didn't want to go, no problem he could stay with us but my husband really wanted him to go because he thought he would enjoy it, once he got used to it.
We talked it over with many people and the overwhelming opinion was that he just needed to cry it out and deal with it. But that just didn't set right with me. How could I let him Cry it Out with strangers if I didn't even do that at home. I have always called E my cautious child, he needs time to make sure things are ok. He is not going to head right into a situation unless he knows that everything is safe and secure, as long as I give him that reassurance he is good to go.
So after much consideration I told my husband that we needed to take him to nursery and not even attempt to leave and just stay with him the whole time for 2-3 weeks, reassuring him that it is fun to be their and allow him to interact with the other leaders with us watching him and reassuring him that it is safe. Many people disagreed and thought I would be in their for months and never be able to leave, but I know my boy. After 3 weeks we went to drop him off and he went right to the nursery leader without a single tear. He knew that she was safe and that he was safe and that we would be back.
Once again I was grateful that I trusted my son and his needs and trusted my own intuition.
I did the same thing with my kids. I never left them in there crying! I stayed with them until they were comfortable and now they go in just fine. 18-months is really young for nursery, they are still a baby!
ReplyDeleteIt's always so wonderful to see the pay-off in the end! Yay!
ReplyDeleteGreat job, sometimes it is hard to follow your intuition, especially when everyone else is telling you that you are wrong. But in the end a Mother knows her child better than anyone else.
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