Leaving toddler overnight

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Leaving toddler overnight

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So when you are leaving your toddler for the first time to got overnight it can be really hard. I honestly think it's much harder on the parents than it is on the toddler. A lot of people sort of have this advice of put them down for the night and then sneak away and i feel that that's just a little rude. I would be frightened if I woke up and everything was different. I was in a different house or with a different caregiver. So my biggest tips is just make it not a big deal, but in terms of don't emote. Don't cry about it. Don't say I love you baby and don't just make a big deal about it. Just make it the same as when you leave the house to go to work or to do anything else and say, "I'll see you later. We're going to be gone a little longer than usual. Your Grandma is here to take care of you or whoever it is," and just sort of make it fine. And honestly I think if you stay calm, your toddler stays calm. The other is to just make sure all the provisions are there. So if he has a certain toy that he likes to go to bed with definitely make sure that's there, so that whoever the caregiver is doesn't have to deal with a temper tantrum, but also so your toddler has everything else the same as usual. And make sure that you've told your caregiver what the nightly routine is and what the daily routine is, so that the toddler isn't going to be confused or frightened when everything is different. Just everything will be the same just mom and dad won't be there.

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Megan Macmanus

Mom & Writer

Megan Hyndman is the mother to two-year-old Finnegan and a newborn, Saoirse. She is a writer, yoga teacher and private tutor and has recently started her own tutoring company, Honors Educational Services.  She and her husband Jason have been married since 2006, and since that time they’ve gone from a couple who thought they never wanted kids to a family of five, if you count the dog – and the 60-lb Rottweiler mix is definitely one of the kids.  The first baby under six months either parent ever saw was their own son, after a home birth, so they had to learn everything from scratch.  As a home birthing, cloth-diapering, infant potty-training, breastfeeding, sort of co-sleeping parent planning to home school, who also vaccinates, circumcises, disciplines, watches TV with Finn way more than she should and works full time, Megan doesn’t really fit into any “Mommy groups” – and that’s okay with her. Megan’s parenting philosophy is the same philosophy she tells her tutoring students: Use What Works for You.  

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