Yup I will likely be the odd man out with my practice ~ I love having more time time to transition children into the program while the parent is still available to come pick up should they be having a really hard time as I personally can not do the all day long crying that many providers talk about it would break me having to listen to that as my 'normal' every time a new child started and while it may be inconvenient to have to have my routine dictated by scheduled playdates during that time which prevents impromptu field trips or outings cause we need to be home to 'visit' I think of it as an investment in later for sure and I know my clients appreciate the experience.

I also have a very open door policy and have no problem if clients want to spend time in the program to build and maintain that trust and ensure that what I am 'saying' goes on in the program is actually what they see as going on and as long as they agree to 'follow the program rules and be consistent with their child while HERE' than they are more than welcome to come .... in today's day in age with all the horror stories in the media and on forums like this one we all know there are 'less than stellar practitioners among us' and while it is required that parents trust us in order for our relationship to work I also know that trust should not just be blind trust based on a 30 minute interview and some reference checks ... I trust of the nature we need is best achieved through seeing evidence of practice so to speak and I know I could never leave my child in a program that did not allow me to spend time 'in' that program in order to feel comfortable and confident in it cause well 'references' of a third party would never be enough for me cause well other peoples standards might be different than mine.

So yes I typically do a couple 'play dates' with the parent present so the parent grows comfortable with me, the other children and how the program runs as I believe children feed off their parent's anxiety and well 'seeing is believing' for most people so alleviating that in the beginning by allowing them to see how the program runs even the chaotic times like lunch and so forth and how I keep them as smooth as possible makes for a smoother transition and much more appreciation from clients on what I do day in and day out. Than I do a couple with the parent ON SITE but not IN the program with them off reading a book in my livingroom or on their laptop or whatever and the child in the program with me alone but if they are 'crying' too long or hard the parent can come back ( we discuss prior how long we are both comfortable with trying before they return) and this IMO helps in reinforcing for the child to trust that parent always returns eventually and therefore they are safe to be here ... and than the week or two weeks depending on amount of time leading up to the parent returning to work I do a gradual progression to a full time so the child comes DAILY but initially for short period at first and growing up to longer days as they are managing well.

Once I adopted this practice it has worked wonders for me ... I do not have to deal with children screaming inconsolably all day for weeks or months ... just the minimal if you miss a cue and they are over hungry or over tired and so forth and than quick to calm once the need is met which usually takes that first week or two of 'weaning in' to alleviate and once they are here full time they are like they have always been here and able to go out and about to playgroups and normal programming with minimal hiccups.