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The first day that your child goes off to preschool can be quite a difficult time for both of you. The child might find it quite traumatic leaving the safety of their home and the protection of their parent for the first time. The big world out there can be quite daunting for a young child. But they are not the only one who will find it strange. The parent will too. So how do you cope with it?

The most difficult and tearful time will be watching them walking through the school door, seeing the concern there and resisting the temptation of rushing to them, scooping them up in your arms and taking them home again.

There are ways that you can ease the strangeness. This is usually accompanied by the feeling that a chapter of life is over, which to a certain extent it is, but there is a new one starting and you should look forward to enjoying this new situation as much as you have enjoyed the time when the child was with you full time.

The first thing you can do is to talk to the other parents standing by the gates. They will be feeling the same emptiness and concern as you are. It really does help to talk in these situations. Sharing your feelings will help to ease some of the tensions and sadness. Go for a coffee with them and, you will find that there will be some laughter that will lift your spirits.

However, you must spend some time during that first day at home, to get use to the situation. The feeling that some thing is missing will be there at first but, if you fill your day, this feeling will soon become just as enjoyable as the time you had when the child was always by your side. Part of this filling the day will be making preparations for when the child returns.

The other aspect of this newfound, albeit it strange aloneness, is that it gives you time for yourself for the first time a number of years. This is an opportunity of adventure, a time that you can use to find something in life for yourself. This does not mean that you are thinking any less of the child, just that you have time to develop for you, just as they are doing by schooling.

Unfortunately, none of us can stop the wheels of time, and these are most noticeable in the rapid way that children. What we have to learn to do is to enjoy the experiences of every stage of our child's life, and of ours as well. This is far better than worrying about the time we are missing with them. Remember, children are only leant to us, to love and care for while they learn from others and us about the life they are living and the future. We, now as adults are in a similar position. Life is for learning and living, and we should enjoy every minute of it.

Learn more about this author, Paul Lines.
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