Separation Anxiety
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For every day of the over three years of my daughter’s life, my wife has not been employed outside of the home. Every weekday, my daughter wakes up to Mommy, eats breakfast with Mommy, and spends the day with Mommy. (Weekends, on the other hand, are generally split between time with Mommy and time with yours truly.)
While my wife does take her to some classes, up until this point many of them have been of the “Mommy and Me” variety. My daughter does not attend preschool or daycare, since my wife is trained as a primary teacher and is therefore able to provide her with an equal or better environment, save for the socialization (which we augment through other classes as mentioned above).
However, on the rare occasions where my daughter is expected to leave my wife and go to a class without her, more often than not tears and protests are involved. If the door to the room remains open and my wife is within sight, sometimes that will suffice. But, if that door is closed? My daughter will stage a nuclear force meltdown tantrum, prompting even the most confident of teachers to cry “uncle” and let her go find my wife.
We know that separation anxiety is common, especially in preschoolers who have an increased awareness of their environment and can more easily reason out what will logically happen next (i.e. a 15 month old may not realize they are being left as quickly as a three year old). But we feel like her level of fear is excessive, and worry that by not pushing (or even forcing) her into more independent situations, we are doing her a disservice.
What have your experiences been with separation anxiety? How did you overcome it?
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