Your child’s first day in childcare is a special milestone for your whole family. At Enrich, we go above and beyond to make this transition as smooth, supported, and memorable as possible. Here’s what you can expect when you arrive, along with how we support both you and your child throughout the day.

A warm welcome from our team

When you walk through our doors, our educators greet you with warmth and care. You’ll meet your child’s room leader and educators, who will walk you through the day’s schedule. This first connection helps build trust and eases nerves for both parent and child. We also ensure that an educator remains close, offers comfort and reassurance, and follows your child’s cues throughout the day.

Settling in: Child-led at their own pace

Every child settles in at their own pace. Some run straight to the playground while others prefer to stay close to a parent or educator for comfort. At Enrich, we acknowledge and validate their feelings, whether it’s excitement, hesitation, or sadness, so they know it’s okay to feel however they feel. 

Our Montessori-inspired environment fosters independence while offering the reassurance young children need. We prepare the classroom and playground so children can explore shelves or trays of carefully chosen, hands-on materials that spark curiosity and joy. Giving children a choice in which activity they would like to start their day with helps them feel in control and eases first-day nerves.

Our educators are partners in helping your child feel safe, settled, and supported. When you arrive, we encourage you to share details about your child’s routines, interests, and favourite songs or activities. This helps our educators create a familiar and comforting experience by include these activities into the day. Everything we do is focused on making your child’s first day as positive and reassuring as possible.

If you worry about when the tears during childcare drop-offs are going to stop and if you should take your child out of childcare, you’re not alone. Please know that many young children often experience some separation anxiety as they adjust to a new environment, and the same goes for parents who might feel a tug at their hearts during those morning goodbyes.

Separation anxiety can happen when a child is going somewhere new or when they see you leave. Your child might cling to you, cry, throw a tantrum, or even say they feel unwell, like telling you their tummy hurts.

Typically, separation anxiety peaks between 8 and 24 months, coinciding with the development of object permanence in children. That means they start to realise you still exist even when you’re out of sight. 

Separation anxiety during childcare drop-offs.

The good news is: Separation anxiety is a sign of secure attachment to you. Children feel safe with their parents and notice when they’re apart, which is a developmentally healthy experience. While every child adjusts at their own pace, most children settle within minutes after you leave and happily start playing or stay close to an educator for a bit more comfort.

It’s important to remember that separation anxiety can feel just as challenging for parents. Saying goodbye, even for a few hours, is not always easy. At Enrich Early Education, we’re here to support you as much as your child. Educators can send private updates or photos during the day to give you peace of mind and help you feel connected.

We’ve seen it over and over again: with loving care, patience, consistency, and support, separation anxiety eases. Before you know it, your child will grow to love their childcare days, rushing in to greet friends, explore Montessori-inspired activities, and learn. 

Starting childcare is a big milestone, and it’s normal for young children to experience big feelings. What feels like a short separation to an adult can seem endless to a young child who’s still learning about routines, relationships, and the concept of time.

At Enrich, our approach is infused with Emotional Intelligence teachings: we validate each child’s feelings, guide them through their worries with gentle reassurance, and help them rediscover calm and confidence through play. This allows them to feel safe, supported, and ready to explore their new environment.

You can help your child get ready to start in childcare with these confidence-building tools:

• Read books about starting childcare.
• Talk about what to expect in simple, age-appropriate terms.
• Practice short separations. For example, by leaving the room briefly and returning quickly.
• Explore their feelings by positively chatting about childcare.
  

Ask your educators for tips, too

We encourage families to share about their child’s routines and favourite activities, such as stacking blocks, singing songs or reading books. The educators will do their best to include these activities in their routines. You know your child best, and we’re here to complement that knowledge with emotional support, consistency, and care.

Every family’s start to childcare looks a little different, and that’s okay. Some children run in excitedly, while others prefer a gentler start. Both are normal. Our role is to walk beside you — to listen, guide, and celebrate the small steps of courage your child takes each day.

At our Gold Coast early learning centre, we combine Montessori-inspired principles with emotional intelligence teachings, helping children feel safe, confident and excited for their new childcare adventure.

If you’d like to explore our emotionally intelligent approach to early learning and childcare in person, we’d love to welcome you to Enrich Early Education for a tour.

When Sophie’s two-year-old son, Max, threw himself on the floor screaming, she did what most parents instinctively do: she scooped him up for a hug and held him tightly. Sometimes, that helped; Max would soften into her arms and let out big tears. But at other times, it didn’t. His body stayed stiff, and though he made a noise that sounded like crying, there were no tears. Over time, Sophie realised something important: sometimes Max needed cuddles and comfort, but at other times, he needed space to process his feelings while she sat close by and let him feel his big feelings.

This is where learning the difference between Holding Space and Emotion Coaching comes in.

Holding space is about being present, calm and accepting. At the same time, your child rides out their big feelings, all without being distracted or rushed to comfort or fix the problem immediately. It’s a way to non-verbally say “your feelings are safe with me,” and it lets them know that it’s okay to feel what they’re feeling, that you’re there with them and for them.

Holding space is letting your child feel their feelings, safely, with you by their side.

• Stay calm yourself. Your steadiness helps them regulate.
• Offer gentle words to let them know you are here for them.
• Allow silence; wait until your child’s emotions start to soften.

• Name the feeling: “You were really disappointed when I said no.”
• Validate the feeling: “It’s okay to feel upset when things don’t go our way”.
• Teach healthy coping skills: “Next time, we can take some deep breaths or find another activity.”

Some days your child needs your arms; other days, your calm presence. By learning when to hug, when to hold space, and when to guide with emotion coaching, you’re helping your child feel safe with their emotions — and giving them lifelong tools to manage life’s ups and downs.

When your cries with tears straight away, it often means sadness, and comfort is welcome. Stiff, angry bodies often means space is needed. Both are okay and both are part of raising emotionally healthy children.

How do you help a child say sorry? And what to do when you feel frustrated when your child won’t apologise

‘Sorry’ is a beautiful word that repairs relationships and heals hurt feelings. When we teach children to say sorry, we teach them to empathise and care about others. It takes courage to say sorry because it makes us feel vulnerable. While being able to genuinely say sorry is one of life’s most essential skills, many children (and adults alike) find saying sorry very hard.

Empowering the children to navigate conflicts

When teaching children how to say ‘sorry’ you want to use a mindful, empathetic approach. It empowers the children with tools to navigate conflicts, understand their emotions, and build healthy relationships. This journey requires patience, but the rewards of seeing children grow into compassionate and empowered individuals are invaluable.

Understanding the challenge

So, how do we teach children to say sorry? Let’s imagine you are in the playground, and you look up to see a child shouting and calling another child horrible names. Our instinct is to jump up and run over to that child and say something short and sharp to stop them in their tracks. However, this then can make the child feel ashamed or resentful. 

Slowing down and take a regulated approach

Though it may be difficult, we as parents and educators must slow down, take a deep breath and take a regulated approach to the situation to gather information and avoid jumping to conclusions. You could use our approach to teaching children to say sorry. These are the steps we follow:

Steps to teaching apologising

1. Non-judgemental listening

We calmly approach the child, get down to their level, look them in the eyes, and ask them what happened. We hold space for the child to allow them to feel safe sharing their side of the story while we listen without judgment. This is where we tend to hear something like, “He knocked my blocks over!”

2. Empathise

This sometimes may not seem natural, especially when we have just seen the child hurt their friend. However, we must understand that the child who did the hurting also felt hurt. So, we empathise with a compassionate facial expression, body language, and kind words. We might say, “Oh, that would not have felt good to have your blocks knocked over!  You worked hard at building that tower”. When we empathise, we show the child we see their pain and understand their feelings. It also helps the child calm down and makes them feel like we are their friend and can trust us. And when this happens, they are much more willing to listen to us and be guided through the following steps.

3. Empower

Now the child feels validated and reassured by their educator, we can gently help them see their friend’s perspective and help them think about healthier ways to communicate their feelings. We can say something like, “I know it was hurtful to get your blocks knocked over, but now your friend also feels hurt because you called them an unkind name. What are some other words you could have used?”  We help them brainstorm other ways to address the problem, e.g. “Could you have come and asked a teacher to help?”.

4. Repair

Now that we have defused the situation and empowered the child with pro-social ways to deal with that situation in the future, we take the final step of repair. We could say something like, “Shall we go and talk to your friend, and you can both help each other feel better?”. If there is reluctance, we can say, “How about we go together. I will hold your hand”. We become their source of courage by providing emotional and physical support to the child. We gently guide the child to their friend, encourage them to look each other in the eyes and say sorry (often both children will need to apologise to each other!).

Good to know: It can take time for a child to learn to say “I’m sorry”. We can help them through this transition by speaking the words for them. This allows them to model our behaviour and quickly gain the confidence to apologise themselves. We can for example say, “Johnny feels sorry for calling you a name. He was feeling hurt that you knocked his blocks over.” This often helps convey the message and starts the healing process.

The long-term benefits of saying sorry

We find that over time, children who were at first completely unwilling to apologise become great relationship repairers! They learn that it’s safe to do so because we listened, empathised, empowered and supported them. This process requires patience and kindness, but the results are so worth it! There’s nothing better than seeing a child smile after repairing a relationship with a friend. Courageous and empowered. 😊