5.04.2008

HELP!

This morning at church Finley was in a particularly playful mood so we decided to give the nursery a try. I took her downstairs and dropped her off and headed back upstairs with my pager. About five minutes later my ears perked up. I went downstairs just to peak on Finley and sure enough she was hysterical. Now, let me remind you that the sanctuary is on another floor. How I heard her is beyond me...must be a sixth sense. So here's my predicament. How do you respond to child that is scared when you're away? I don't want her to be fearful, but I also don't want to raise a child that is such a "mama's girl". Oh, and it's not just strangers. She won't anyone hold her except her Papa, Mimi and I. The rest of the family is praying that this is a stage and so I am. Please give me some advice!

2 comments:

Johnny & Carly said...

I'm going through this too, so I don't have much advice but just know that I understand how you feel!!I still get paged almost every Sunday in church and it breaks my heart to come back to a red-faced, snotty, hysterical baby but I keep reminding myself that it's either that or never go to church. Some kids don't seem to mind getting left, and others just think that the world is coming to an end. Sounds like we both got that kind of kid. I don't think it's a negative thing, just a difference in personality and the fact that we both stay home with our kids so they're around us that much more. We started volunteering in Will's classroom once/month and I'm hoping that this will help, but I have yet to see an improvement. I know that eventually they'll get over the "only mom will do" phase and we'll be wishing that they would come running to us again, so just keep trying to remember that and in the meantime hang in there!!

Andrea said...

Naomi was like that, only she wouldn't even go to her dad much without screaming. We just took her to the nursery for 5 or 10 minutes each Sunday and when she turned 14 or 15 months she was able to make it the whole time. Just be patient. At this point in her development she doesn't see herself as a separate being from you so it is traumatic when her "other half" isn't around. She'll come around! For what it is worth we didn't do anything different raising Daphne and she barely ever minded being separated for short periods from me. Every kid is different.