By With regard to the periods of adaptation in a daycare centre, there are a few problems that make things not go well; firstly, they could be too strict and do not allow a flexible period for the child and/or the parents cannot make the period of adaptation as long as the child would require for work reasons.
A person does not adapt to a new environment, a new place and new people in two hours or two days, the children either. The purpose of the daycare centre adaptation period is for the child to get to know the new environment, new caregiver and new friends, so that he/she ends up feeling that he/she is in a safe, non-threatening place, especially when his/her mother or father is not around.
Some children have enough with three or four small steps to get along, other children may need up to a month and there are children who can take a whole year, but such a long period is rare. The fact is that the ideal thing is that the first day we enter with the child, we are with him/her, allowing sometime knowing the new environment.
That first day the caregiver can meet the child, establish contact with the child and the parents, all together, create a climate of trust in which the child can see that he/she is a person who can be part of this new circle of trusted people.
The next day the parents could also enter with the child, creating the caregiver any dynamic in which he/she participates, but excluding the parents, who can say goodbye to the child for a while such as ‘I leave here for a moment’. Little by little, the child must spend more time with the caregiver and less time with the parents.
I have talked about the first and second days as if it were a pattern, but it is not. I have simply commented on what would seem normal to me to do, that the process be gradual and that the child does not feel abandoned, forming part of a new safe environment for the child. Actually, it is all about finding the right balance, so that the child does not have a bad time or has the best time possible. A sincere and professional daycare centre is well aware of the process and will go the extra mile if needed like Noah’s Ark daycare.
