My daughter is 2.5 and has just started a day care 3 afternoons a week. She is having a very hard time letting me go at this point and is now feeling serious separation anxiety all the time. She is afraid when I am out of her sight and runs to me if I go in the kitchen when she is in the living room, for example.
I have no reason to believe that this particular day care is a "bad" place although it may turn out that any day care is a bad place for her right now. I am putting her in day care because I am working to transition in to working part time. My field is notoriously difficult to get back into if you take time off so I have been trying really hard to not have huge gaps in my resume. That said, I don't "have" to work. I do feel that I am a better parent when I have some time away from my daughter - some thing I get none of if I don't have her in day care. So I can rationalize putting her in day care. But, I feel worried that I am doing lasting damage to her because she is so sad and worried.
Does anyone have experience with this? Did people find that their children eventually adjusted or did they make a change in the care situation? If your children adjusted, how long did it take?
I am asking people not to be too mean about my wish to work. I am willing to compromise that if that is the only acceptable option for my daughter. But I would love to have a few hours a week without childcare duties.
