3 year old cries on bus every day

imorethanamother

Fri, Sep 13 2019, 4:39 pm

She's three - that's really young. Can you try to find a carpool to take her to school in the morning?

What about a small MP3 player with all her favorite songs? And a recording of you telling her how much you love her?

My three year old cried for the first few weeks at preschool, and I took off work and stayed with him the whole day for two weeks until he settled in. And I have a full time job and I pay a lot of the bills. Maybe ask your boss for some flex-time and take some work home to do at night so that you can come an hour or so late in the morning.

amother

Blonde

Sat, Sep 14 2019, 11:07 am

amother [ Bronze ] wrote:

Your responsibility as a parent isn’t to just take care of her physical needs but you have an achrayus towards her emotional safety and security as well. Yes, you might need to take off ( come late) a few mornings to drive her to school until she is comfortable. I totally understand it’s really difficult to juggle being a working mom and it sounds like you are really trying hard but if she isn’t comfortable soon it’s still your responsibility as a mom to ensure that she is ok. I only am saying this with good intentions and please understand my words in that regard. Much luck figuring this out ( the bus buddy does sound like a nice idea as well) and may your daughter thrive this year on the bus and throughout her day.

THIS!
Of course you're responsible to take care of your child's emotional needs and to ensure that she feels safe. Yes, even if she is safe, she deserves to FEEL safe.

FranticFrummie

Sat, Sep 14 2019, 1:13 pm

Is DD verbal enough to tell you what she doesn't like about the bus? Some kids can tell you whole paragraphs about their feelings at that age, and some simply can't find the words yet.

Can you draw her a picture of a bus, and ask her questions about it? Social stories about going on the bus could help her a lot.

Ask her what her favorite thing is about the bus.
Ask her what is the worst thing about the bus.
Brainstorm with her about how to fix the worst thing.
Go back to talking about her favorite thing.
Always end the conversation with an "up" attitude and happy thoughts.

This is the most useful parenting technique I have ever come across for toddlers through early elementary, while kids are learning their emotional vocabulary.