Daycare Tips for Smooth Child Pick-ups

Daycare Tips for Smooth Child Pick-ups.

1. Take a moment to connect with your child’s daycare staff members to understand your child’s day at daycare. It’s so important to pause and appreciate all the love and kindness they provide to your little ones each day.  Try to always ask time permitting even on good days and on the bad!
2. Try to gather your child(ren)’s stuff first that needs to go home before you go to get your child(ren).  A simple school bag or backpack can make it easier to grab and storage things and give you “hands free” abilities when getting your children from the daycare.
3.  Try the same tips for making your child(s) drop-off easier — allow yourself time to not be in a rush if possible.  But if you’ve had a rough day, try to remember to take a deep breath to shake it off before entering the  daycare home or center…even if it means you’ll be in a rush to get your child packed up and out the door.
4.  Talk about what you’re going to do at home. When picking-up my child I often say, “let’s go home to see daddy!” and my daughter’s face lights up.  Sometimes maybe remember to have your child(s) favorite toy in the car waiting for them just in case he/she needs that little distraction to get them to go home with you and prevent them having problems leaving their friends at the daycare.
5. Try yo have a consistent plan and stick to it. If you are willing to let your child(ren) keep playing for 15 minutes when you arrive that the daycare, great.  However, if you have some place to be, an appointment and can’t hang around, don’t dilly dally with your child.  Let your child(ren) know and stick to the plan.  Also, if you pick up your children after 5 p.m., presume your child will be hungry and remember to bring snacks for them especially if you have a long commute home ahead.

Example:  Your preschool son currently struggles with transitions.  He could maybe even be going through a phase like our son… where he would hit other kids when we came to pick him up.  

Our solution that worked for us, was to give allow our son enough time to finish up whatever he was doing or playing with at the daycare within reason, allow him to say goodbye to his friends before he left, and to have a snack ready in hand (e.g., an apple or crackers) for him on the way out of the daycare.  This approach seemed to help stop him from striking out at others.  Best of luck!

We hope these simple Daycare Tips for Smooth Child Pick-ups may help you in making the daycare pick-up time a little bit easier? 

Let us know what your Daycare Tips for Smooth Child Pick-ups are today!