Eight Ways a Nanny Can Help Her Charges Say Good-Bye

Leaving a nanny job is never easy because it always mean leaving a child you love and care for. Even when it’s a natural and healthy transition, it’s hard for the nanny to say goodbye, and usually for the child too. Here are some ways a nanny can help her charge deal with the change.

1. Let her know the job is ending but the love is forever. It’s sometimes hard for a child to understand the difference between the job and the relationship. As children get older, they are better able to grasp the subtleties of the situation. However even from a young age, a child can understand that even though she won’t see her nanny as often, her nanny will continue to love and care about her.
2. Be honest. It’s often easier to put off difficult conversations or act like a tough situation isn’t really that bad. However having a beloved nanny leave can be very difficult for a child, and although it’s important to be reassuring, it’s equally important to be honest about what’s really happening. If you’re leaving your job because you’re moving out of state, don’t promise to come see the child every week. If you’re taking a new job down the street, don’t promise to never take care of another child. Being honest, no matter how hard it is, will help the child know she can rely on you and trust what you say and do.
3. Let her have whatever feelings she’s going to have. Some children get sad when their nanny leaves. Others get angry or withdrawn. How your charge reacts to the news of you leaving depends on your relationship with her, her temperament, and how the adults around her react. There’s no right or wrong reaction. Let her know that whatever she’s feeling, it’s OK. Help her recognize that her feelings are a natural part of the good-bye process and that she will feel better in time. Also be OK with your charge not being sad or upset. Some children naturally take things in stride and don’t have the negative reactions we often expect them to have. A nonchalant attitude doesn’t mean you’re not an important person in her life. It simply means she’s handling the transition well.
4. Let her know you’re sad too. Leaving isn’t just a big transition for your charge, it’s a big change for you too. Let your charge know how much you’re going to miss her and miss spending time together.
5. Make a memory craft together. Use pictures of some of the favorite things you did and favorite places you visited along with other memorabilia to create a scrapbook or other keepsake collection. It will be a visual reminder to the child of the special times she shared with you. These reminders are important transitional items and can help children create a bridge between the past and the future.
6. Welcome the new nanny. If your employers are hiring a new nanny, make sure you fully support her as she steps into your job. This is the new person who will be taking care of your charge, and your support will help the child know it’s OK to connect and bond with the new nanny. If the child believes that you disapprove of the new nanny, it may make their new relationship difficult.
7. Make plans to see each other. Just because you’re leaving your job doesn’t mean you won’t get to see your charge anymore. Before your last day, make definite plans to spend time together. It could be an afternoon at the park, a dinner out together, or anything else you enjoy doing together. If the parents agree, consider becoming a regular babysitter. This is often a great opportunity for the parents to spend time out together and for you get to spend some quality time with your former charge. Many caregivers often go from being the nanny to being the babysitter.
8. Find other ways to stay in touch. With all the technology available today, it’s easier than ever to stay in touch with the people you love. Sit down with your charge and come up with fun ways to connect. Some of those ways may become your new rituals. Try postcards, funny notes through snail mail, email, Facebook, or video chat. How often you connect with each other will depend on the child’s age, your schedules, and the parents’ willingness to support your relationship. Even if you don’t connect often, make sure to touch base on a regular basis.

Leaving a nanny job can be sad for everyone. However nannies can help children say good-bye in healthy ways and make the transition to the new relationship easier.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Isabella Harris. I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.nannyjobs.net/blog/eight-ways-a-nanny-can-help-her-charges-say-good-bye/ 

10 Tips for Parents of Kids Who Resist Having Their Teeth Brushed

Chasing a defiant toddler around with a toothbrush is more likely to end in smears of toothpaste on the furniture and a tiny mouth that refuses to open than an effective lesson in oral hygiene. For parents that have attempted to plead, bargain, and even threaten their way into their child’s mouth with a toothbrush, here are ten hints and tips that might make the experience a more productive one. 

1. Model Good Oral Hygiene Habits – It’s no secret that children love to mimic the adults that they love and trust, so letting your child watch you brush your own teeth can be an effective way of encouraging them to form good oral hygiene habits as well.
2. Encourage Independence – While a toddler might not do the best job of brushing their teeth, they are generally quite talented when it comes to asserting their independence. Letting your child attempt to brush her own teeth will help her form the habit. Depending on your child’s individual temperament, it may also be easier to finish the job properly if you’ve allowed her to begin the task herself.
3. Make the Process Fun – Singing a silly song, making a point of brushing teeth to attack fictional “sugar bugs”, and maintaining a playful, upbeat attitude can make a world of difference when it comes to convincing your child to let you brush her teeth. Rather than fighting for dominance with a child that’s just learning to assert her independence, make it a point to keep the entire hygienic process as fun and exciting as possible.
4. Establish a Routine – When your child knows that brushing her teeth is part of her routine at certain points of each and every day, it will become progressively less difficult to handle. Keep in mind that introducing a change to the schedule you’ve previously established is almost always difficult in the beginning, and try to be patient until your little one adjusts.
5. Enlist Your Dentist’s Help – Whether she’s offering a plaque-disclosing rinse that turns your child’s teeth a different color until they’re brushed properly or simply advising you on the best methods of establishing an oral hygiene routine, your dentist is a great resource for all things related to your child’s oral health. Don’t be afraid to approach the subject of dealing with resistance to brushing teeth at your next visit, if you feel that the situation is not improving.
6. Let Kids Choose Their Own Toothbrush – While many parents shy away from commercially licensed products, a toothbrush with your child’s favorite princess, hero, heroine, or cartoon character may be just what she needs to get excited about brushing her teeth. Allowing her to choose her own toothbrush also gives your child a measure of control over the process, which can also make brushing her teeth less of a battle.
7. Consider a Xylitol Toothpaste – The naturally-occurring sugar alcohol xylitol is not only appealing to kids due to its sweetness, but is also recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry for cavity prevention in children due to its efficacy in preventing tooth decay. Using flavored toothpaste that features this helpful and appealing compound may make your little one more receptive to having her teeth brushed, especially if you let her choose a flavored brand.
8. Offer an Explanation – For some stubborn children, simply explaining why brushing their teeth is essential may be enough to convince them to relent. Harried parents often have a tendency to focus solely on accomplishing an unpleasant task, rather than providing the explanation for why it’s necessary to baffled kids. Talking about cavities and tooth decay in a way that your child will understand may help to end the struggle.
9. Use a Musical Timer – Making a game of brushing your child’s teeth by using a musical timer provides the fun aspect that kids are looking for, while also ensuring that little teeth get the attention they require for the prescribed amount of time.
10. Stay in Control of Your Temper – It’s easy to lose your temper when you’re forced to fight the same battle on a daily basis, but shouting at your child because she won’t comply is likely to make her dread having her teeth brushed even more. Try to be patient with your little one, and work through the initial rough patch.

Many parents opt to forgo the struggle of brushing kids’ baby teeth, reasoning that they’ll be falling out soon anyway. While this is essentially true, having dental work on baby teeth can be a traumatic experience and often requires the use of general anesthesia. Furthermore, the habits that you help them establish during toddlerhood and the preschool years will also determine how well they care for their permanent teeth when they get older and oral hygiene becomes more of their own responsibility.

P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Renee Gardner . I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.nannyneeded.org/blog/10-tips-for-parents-of-kids-who-resist-having-their-teeth-brushed/ 

And the four crows will fly away - 4th Part

Fourth part

The burst of the second world war caught me surprised on this walk of studies and searches. Bitterly I was forced to consider that human beings pursued their premature end, rather than search for the truth. But at that time I hadn't understand yet that every human action, even the most iniquitous and bestial, has however its own reason to be done and for me, that war, would have been another fundamental step on the way of comprehension. When Germany, violating the accords formerly taken, moved war to England, attaching London, I realized that the right moment had come for me to show that the Parnells loved to fight for freedom, under any flag and against whoever oppressed its exercise. I threw to England and enlisted in the Royal Air Force, despite I have to confess you that, after the betrayal of my father, I felt more Irish than English, also considering that in those days, as it is today, Ireland was divided in two parts, with a part still under the British dominion. After a brief but intense training I was assigned, as I had required myself, having the pre-requisite for it, to pilot’s hunting squads. Between-whiles of my missions I had the opportunity to deeply analyze the causes of those disastrous events. I had been, it is true, in the years immediately preceding the war completely devoted to my studies, in a way that I could call, purely scientific of the phenomenon which stand at the base of the human life, but it was not certainly in the fore coming years of war that we had to seek the reasons and the causes of it. The roots of hate and evil sank their extreme appendixes in the most tangled and lavish meanders of human mind. These deleterious feelings, so inherent to human mind, were to be conceived like the principal causes of that huge bath of blood. From this premise I puzzled out that the basic beliefs of the national socialist philosophy were correct: the humanity, in order to be saved, needed a superior race to be raised over the others for leading them to salvation. But German race could not certainly be the chosen one. Not even any other among the existing could be it, because it had to be a race who didn't know, in their hearts but goodness and love. With a greater fury than before, I addressed all my energies against the hateful enemy: I challenged death ten, hundred, thousands of times, always defeating the adversary. Plainly, the truth was clear to me: the contours of my destiny assumed more and more its clean and precise outline. It appeared more and more evident the role that was reserved to me in the history of the world.” I resolutely threw myself heart and soul into brain’s study. I felt that I had to create a super brain in order to be reproduced and form a race of super-men able to drive on the right direction this dregs of humanity that inhabits the world. After some rough attempts of surgical engineering, that occupied me for different years, whose initial success and following disappointed bitterness, almost led me to abandon the whole project, it was the fate to intervene and to point out the right way to me. Which kind of test would I have still waited for? The same celestial stars directly showed me the way! A beautiful day, in fact, while I was observing under the microscope a cat’s brain, ulterior, fortunate guinea-pig, subtracted to the deprivations of its life for the glory of the Science, an amazing account happened to me. I had set the small feline’s organ in a cylindrical open neck test-tube and I was continuously thinking about it, looking as usual for a sprout of understanding on its complex and mysterious composition. At a certain point, needing something to eat, I went upstairs. I left unwillingly open the microscope’s focus. I was going to have a cup of tea, with my daily survival meal, when I heard some beats on the door. The circumstance was quite unusual. Nobody ever came to find me and Soledad, the Mexican housemaid who was in charge for homework, as an invisible angel, entered in the house using her own key. As I opened the door a young man introduced himself as an emissary of an English legal study “Heirs and Heirs” . 

 From the original ignazio s. basile's  italian novel.  English version by the same author
...to be continued...

9 Positive Nanny News Stories of 2012

For every bad nanny story that is written, there are many great ones waiting to be told. While nannies come from diverse backgrounds and have various experiences, good nannies tend to have one thing in common: they are caretakers by nature. Whether it’s jetting around the world to accompany mom on a work trip, dedicating 40 years of their life to the same family, or saving their charge’s – or a stranger’s -  life, most nannies are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in any situation.

While the media tends to focus most often on covering negative nanny stories, positive nanny stories do abound. Here are 9 positive nanny stories that have made the news so far in 2012:

Nanny Credited with Saving a Life – Chicago based nanny Emily Rogers put the CPR training, which she learned years before for a nanny job, to use as she is credited with helping to save Jorge Pedroso’s life.

Nanny Saves Charge from Carjacking – Nanny Kaitlyn McGrath safely escaped her work vehicle that was being carjacked with her one-year-old charge, Cash, in her arms. Cash is the son of ABC Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition trainer Chris Powell and his wife Heidi.  Both credited her with saving their child’s life.

A Nanny’s Role is Reversed  - Susane Lavinia Bowden served as a live-in nanny and housekeeper to the Hoare family for 40 years. Nanny Susane celebrates her 100^th birthday living with her former employer as a member of their family. In her aging years her employer, turned friend, now cares for her.

The Norland Manny – Michael Kenny is the first male admitted to the world famous nanny training college, Norland College, to obtain an education degree. When he graduates he will be only the second male in history to graduate as a Norland Nanny from the 120-year-old college.

U.S. Soccer Fully Finances Nanny Services for Players and Coaches  – Members of the U.S. Woman’s Soccer Team bring their children on the road, thanks to U.S. Soccer and its commitment to establishing family-friendly policies. U.S. Soccer pays the salaries of the nannies so that players and coaches can focus on their families and their sport.

Childhood Nanny Given Ultimate Honor – Wonder where actress Tori Spelling got her daughter Hattie Margaret’s middle name from? She named her daughter after her own childhood nanny, perhaps one of the greatest honors a nanny could receive.

Nanny of the Year- Maryland based nanny Nikki Gribble was honored at the 2012 International Nanny Association Annual Conference as the association’s Nanny of the Year. This honor is awarded to nannies who exemplify who and what a nanny truly is.

Nanny Saves Boy from Jeep – Quick-acting nanny Cindy Gatson saved her four-year-old charge from being struck by an out of control Jeep that was barreling towards him. The boy’s mom credits his nanny with saving his life. The Jeep came within inches of where the boy was.

Book Dedicated to Nanny – While Chicago nanny Vivian Maier may not have made the news during her lifetime, she’s certainly making it in her death. A new book, Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows chronicles her life through the pictures she took of herself and others.

While not every positive nanny story will make the news, the ones that do are likely an indication of the everyday heroes who provide loving and nurturing childcare to the children in their care.

P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Olivia Lewis .  I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

 

 http://www.nannynewsnetwork.com/blog/9-positive-nanny-news-stories-of-2012/

10 Ways to Scare Away a Good Nanny

So you’ve found the perfect nanny for your family and are ready to begin your nanny employer relationship. The hard work is over, right? Wrong. Like any relationship, the nanny and employer one will take a focused effort to build and maintain. While most nannies are dedicated and loyal employees, there are a few things that can really make them question their decision to accept employment with a family.  As you move forward in your nanny employer relationship, strive to draw your nanny closer, not scare her away.

To keep the relationship moving forward, avoid doing these 10 things that are likely to scare your nanny away.

1. Use forceful language. When it comes to your nanny, the old adage is true: sometimes it’s not what you say, but how you say it. While you’re the boss and you get to call the shots, work to ensure that your interactions with your nanny are respectful and considerate. Instead of saying “I’ll be late and I need you to stay,” say “I’m really sorry to be running late. If you could stay an extra 30 minutes, it would be a huge help.” Being aggressive or forceful may lead your nanny to wonder what she’s gotten herself into.

2. Talk down to her. Speaking to your nanny like she has potatoes for brains won’t earn you the nanny employer of the year award. Saying things like “Let me put this in simple terms for you” when giving instructions, or responding to your nanny by saying “We already thought of that” when she makes a suggestion, conveys an “I’m better than you attitude.” A condescending attitude does nothing but make your nanny feel like you think she’s stupid. But don’t worry, nannies who are treated this way tend to smarten up quickly… and leave their positions.

3. Expect her to clean up after your mess. Unless your nanny specifically agreed to take on housekeeping duties, don’t expect her to clean up after you. While most nannies will go above and beyond to ensure that their work space is cleaner when they leave than when they came in, taking advantage of your nanny could send her straight for the door.

4. Volunteer her to do things without asking her first. Volunteering your nanny to care for your visiting family’s children or committing your nanny to be in charge of the carpool without asking her first is asking for trouble. While most nannies are more than happy to go above and beyond and pitch in wherever needed, it’s the not asking them before volunteering them that drives them nuts. If you keep volunteering your nanny for things without giving her advance warning, it will result in her volunteering to help find you a new nanny.

5. Appear unapproachable. Telling your nanny “I don’t have time to talk to you right now” or asking your assistant to take a message whenever your nanny calls you at work sends the message that what she has to say is not important. Successful nanny and employer relationships are based on open and honest communication. If you don’t encourage communication and instead turn your nanny down whenever she tries to speak to you, you’re sending the message that you don’t value what she has to say. If you constantly show your nanny that you don’t care about her thoughts, eventually she’ll question how much she cares about working for you.

6. Call every five minutes. Nanny employers should absolutely make it a point to check in with their nanny in some form every day. But when parents call their nanny every few minutes all day, every day (which some really do), it sends the message to your nanny that she is not trusted. Nanny and employer relationships are built on trust. If a nanny doesn’t feel like she is able to gain your trust, she may consider finding a family whose trust she can more easily obtain.

7. Become infected with nanny envy. Feeling jealous that your nanny gets to spend time having fun with your child is only normal and natural. What’s not is constantly reminding your nanny that you are jealous of her. Repeatedly saying things like “I’m so sad my child loves you more” or “I wish there was a way I could stay home” may lead your nanny to believe that you may be thinking about staying home. If a nanny feels like her job may be in jeopardy because you’re having a hard time dealing with jealousy, she may start looking for a new one.

8. Friend her on Facebook. Your nanny has a life separate from her workplace and, chances are, she would really like to keep it that way. While being your nanny’s Facebook friend may seem like the reasonable thing for you to do, to some nannies it may be interpreted as “nanny stalking.” If your nanny feels like you are trying to keep tabs on her outside of the workplace, she may feel uncomfortable enough to reconsider working for you.

9. Get a new pet, without mentioning it first. While at first it may seem like getting a family pet has no impact on your nanny’s duties and responsibilities, the reality is that it does. If your nanny shows up to work on Monday morning and is greeted by a new puppy, it may be the last Monday she shows up.  As the only adult home, your nanny will be left with no choice but to reinforce training, to feed the puppy, and to clean up after it. If you decide to purchase a puppy over the weekend, be sure to purchase the services of doggy daycare with it, at least until you talk to your nanny.

10. Refuse to pay her when your plans change.  Nannies are typically paid 52 weeks per year. If you opt to go on a family vacation and leave your nanny at home, you are still responsible for paying her. If you decide to take a day off and call your nanny to tell her she doesn’t need to come in that day, your nanny deserves to be paid. When your nanny is available to work and, by no fault of her own, you decide not to use her services, she should be paid. Messing with your nanny’s paycheck is a surefire way to welcome conflict into your relationship. Most nannies have caring personalities and, by nature, don’t enjoy conflict. Rather than engaging in a battle of wills, your nanny many instead opt to walk away. Literally.

Most nannies want to grow close to their employers, and value their working relationships. They also value job security, and typically will do most anything to make a relationship work out. As you move forward in your nanny and employer relationship, be cautious about doing things that could push your nanny away. If you push your good nanny too far away, chances are, you could end up pushing her away for good.

P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Abby Nelson.  I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.nannyclassifieds.com/blog/10-ways-to-scare-away-a-good-nanny/ 

And then four crows will fly away- third part

-“The same day I knew by my teacher that I was the only heir of my mother’s estates, and that since the day of her death, whose he had been the honest and prudent administrator , as he would show to me in his detailed account. That man, I had so much hated and blamed, now that his ungrateful charge had come to end, seemed to me good and comprehensive, and his words calmed for a few time my incurable pain. By now, however, I had also to think about my life, and in those places I would never succeeded in shaking off me my sad past. I begged the reverend to continue to administer my goods and I departed, to the discovery of the world. I travelled at first through the United States, then I went to Canada, Australia, New Zealand. After I visited Europe, without never finding the courage to return to my country. Tired of the European Countries, among which I mostly liked your Italy , I departed to India and finally, always curious of new lands, I went to Africa. Neither women, neither alcohol, nor drugs not even the vices which I was devoted in those years succeeded in cancelling my bitter memoirs, until one day, while I was sojourning in Kenya, I fell ill, prey of strong fevers. Not a lot, then I gave, to live or die, but the Fate, had evidently prepared, that I survived, so that the programs could be realized, whose I will have the honor and the pleasure to communicate to you. Revealed therefore from the illness, I returned to America aiming however to south, that I had not visited yet. Going up again homeward, I stayed for a long time in Mexico, that not little fascinated me. By now being satisfied my curiosity of the world, I preferred to take over again my studies, more strongly and surely than before. I was akin of all: medicine, biology, physics, mathematics, chemistry, hidden sciences, illusionism, magic arts, engineering, electronics, astrology, philosophy, astronomy, sociology, anthropology, theology, ethnology, history, juridical, economic and political sciences and every other thing attracted my mind curious of reaching new knowledge. During the numerous years of my following study, it happened on me a gradual mutation that flowed, hitherto a short time, in a great, bright revelation. I had realized, deepening on studies that any single subject lost, little by little, until vanish, its own contours and that all acquired information met in a bubbly melting pot, to form just one, immense nucleus of knowledge. Yes, dear friends: our knowledge is an original, total unity. The single disciplines of human knowledge are but the infinitesimally small fragments that the mankind looks hopelessly for recomposing in to the aboriginal unity. Two were the necessary consequent corollaries to this thrilling discovery. The first one is that the brain of both animal and human beings constitutes, though at a different evolutionary stadium, a microscopic part of the primordial totality. The second is that human thought search, yet in a blind and messy manner, to recompose, at a mental level, the great, primitive explosion, the Big-Bang, through a long and fatiguing marching back, up to the innumerable light years that separate it, from an equal, roaring and powerful implosion. And if you consider that our mind speculates in the space-time as fast as speed-light, this kind of final Big-Imbang will appear less far than any hasty forecast.

 From the original ignazio s. basile's  italian novel.  English version by the same author
...to be continued...

Separation Anxiety in the Early Elementary School Child

Separation anxiety is a common occurrence in young children just beginning school, especially those that have never attended daycare or been regularly left in the care of a childcare provider outside of the family. Though it can be painful for both parents and children to leave each other at first, separation anxiety is usually overcome as a child becomes more accustomed to her new routine. When separation anxiety persists well beyond preschool or kindergarten and into the early elementary school years, however, it may indicate a more serious problem than run of the mill separation anxiety. There are several common causes for difficulty separating in elementary aged children that parents of struggling children may want to take into consideration.

• School Phobia – Children that become visibly anxious or exhibit a fear of going to school may be suffering from a more severe anxiety disorder known as school phobia, which can manifest as persistent separation anxiety. If your child has frequent stomachaches, nausea, diarrhea, or headaches that aren’t connected to an actual illness when school is mentioned, he may be suffering from school phobia. This condition is also called school avoidance or school refusal, terms that seem to imply a simple distaste for school. For some children, this anxiety can dissipate on its own as a routine is established and fears prove to be unfounded. The issue can also be an early indication of anxiety disorders and may negatively impact your child’s academic performance. Should his ability to keep up with his class result from frequent school avoidance, it may become even more stressful to attend class as fears that his delays will be discovered by his classmates begin to exacerbate his anxiety. Consulting your child’s pediatrician to determine if his separation anxiety is rooted in school phobia and discussing the matter with your child can help you determine the best course of action.
• Personal Trauma – Divorce, the death of a loved one, or other traumatic changes in your child’s life can make the idea of being separated from remaining caregivers a repellent one, even for short periods of time. If your child’s separation anxiety began to present itself after a traumatic event, that event could be the underlying cause of his reluctance to be separated from you. Working with your child’s doctor or a specializing therapist to manage these feelings and help him overcome the trauma is usually the best way to resolve any lingering separation anxiety.
• Abuse or Bullying – A child that shows marked anxiety about attending school but refuses to explain why he’s reluctant to be separated from a loved and trusted caregiver may be the victim of bullying, either from classmates or older students in his school. Look for signs of bullying, and approach the subject with your child carefully to determine if this is the cause of his anxiety. Similarly, a child who shows little compunction about attending school but is visibly upset at the prospect of being left in after-school care may be suffering from abuse at the hands of a caregiver. Before leveling accusations of abuse at your child’s caregiver, however, you should remember that such allegations can be personally and professionally devastating, even if proven false in the end. You should be absolutely certain that your child is being abused before filing charges or accusing his childcare provider of harming him, but it is a possibility you should consider if his behavior is erratic and his separation anxiety seems to manifest only at certain times.
• Academic Struggles – When a child is struggling to keep up with his class or feels overwhelmed by the academic demands placed on him at school, even at an early age, fear of discovery and humiliation can present itself as severe separation anxiety. If your child hysterically protests being separated from a loving parent and an environment that feels safe and you’re aware of any difficulty with schoolwork, it’s wise to consider the possibility that his anxiety is a result of his struggle to keep up. Many learning disorders can be managed, but the ability to manage them depends upon a diagnosis. To determine whether or not your child’s separation anxiety is a symptom of a learning disorder that affects his academic performance, you should consult with his teacher, a counselor and your pediatrician.
• Separation Anxiety Disorder – While traditional separation anxiety is considered a normal developmental milestone for babies and toddlers, separation anxiety disorder is an actual illness that presents itself in older children. Distress upon separation, persistent worry that future events will lead to a permanent separation from a loved one, and irrational concerns that a parent or loved one will die or meet a terrible fate while they’re out of a child’s sight are all indicators that the child is suffering from separation anxiety disorder. If your child exhibits signs of anxiety upon being separated under any circumstances, such as sleeping in their own bedroom or visiting a friend’s house, it’s important that you discuss the matter with his doctor to ensure that he gets the right treatment to manage his symptoms.

Determining whether your child is suffering from run-of-the-mill separation anxiety at a relatively late age or whether his stress is the result of an underlying problem can be challenging without the help of a medical professional. Addressing these problems early can help you and your family better manage the symptoms, dramatically improving the quality of life for everyone involved.

  P. S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Barbara Williams.   I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:

http://www.findababysitter.org/blog/separation-anxiety-in-the-early-elementary-school-child/