I have to console the parents too???

[cfred]

Wow, they do sound a little over the top! I might be the odd man out on this one. I encourage parents to text as much as they need to, at the beginning, because I know they're completely stressed about leaving their baby. I want them to feel involved in the transition process and to know that I'll keep them up to date on what's happening. I've had clients with varying degrees of anxiety - some left without a second glance, others have cried at the door for a week or so, others needed substantially more hand holding and cajoling.

The nice thing about texts is that you can leave it alone until you have time. In the 13 years I've been doing this, I've found this technique useful in maintaining perceived transparency which is, in short, very comforting to parents. They just feel better. To add to this, I also tell them little things that will change along the way as the child transitions (will eventually stop crying quickly, or will reach for me, etc, etc). These things always happen so they can be predicted with reasonable certainty. Then when you let them know these things have happened, as they occur, it builds their confidence in you. When they leave me with a crying child, I'll text them when the crying stops (provided it stops quickly). This way they can see the progress, feel involved with the process and can relax more. Eventually, even my most nervous parents just learn that 'junior' is in very capable hands, is having fun and making the appropriate progress. I think parental involvement is a very useful tool. Time consuming at first, but well worth the effort.