Children's last day at the centre

[ceECE]

We tend to have children in our care for a long time. When parents give their notice because of moving etc. Do you do anything special for the child(ren) on their last day?

[4Sparkles]

Oh yes, I have done picnics , farewell party, and once a trip to Cosmic all of course with a special gift and card from my family and I.

[Tot-Time]

I do the same 4Sparkles. We throw a big party with gifts, there is always a gift from my family and all my daycare families also buy their individual gifts too.

I have had an amazing family in care for 3 years and she used to always buy gifts for the kids for every occassion she could think of, and of course this was picked up by all my other families.

So now, birthdays, holidays, and last days are a big party at daycare.

[LisaQ]

How do you find the other children react when one of their little pals leaves daycare? Does it feel like there's a hole there? How are newcomers welcomed?

[giraffe]

I will only hrow a party if the departure is on a positive note.... new baby, going to "big kid" school. I do not throw parties for children that have been terminated.

As for how the other children react when one leaves... Most of my kids dont even notice. I have had serveral children come and go in my past year (due to mat leaves etc) and I could count on one hand the amount of times that one of the departed children were mentioned.

[playfelt]

I only do parties if a child is leaving to start school as in it becomes the equivalent of a preschool graduation for them. I give them a certificate, we do a special snack and I give them a gift. I also will do something similar for a child that is moving to a new city such as a military family that is transferred and then it is more to have something special to remember a phase of life that is now over. For other reasons it is simply special cookies at snack as in acknowledged but not a party. Even if parting is on a sour note I figure the cookies help for all of the kids in the daycare group non of which understand why the child is going including the child themselves. Same for those that are leaving for other reasons. Even if I do understand it is because of a new house or mat leave or whatever it is like a part of me doesn't feel they get the over the top party cause it is the parent making the decision to pull the child not extraneous circumstances like age or transfer.

[ceECE]

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