Helping new children settle in

It is important to learn how to settle children into their new environment, and understand that both the child and their family members can be distressed by the separation.

You will find that there is more distress for both the baby and their family in the 0 - 2 years age group than for the older children. At this age, family members often feel reluctant to leave their baby in the care of someone else and babies are beginning to form strong attachments with their families and don't always understand that their family will be back to pick them up later.

Parents and children will progress through a grieving process as a response to being separated from a loved one. During this time children need your understanding, your time and support to assist them to begin to feel safe and secure and to trust that their needs will be met in this new environment. Distressed and crying children should not be ignored, they should be responded to according to the cues they give. For example, some children may need close physical contact, others may just need you to be sitting nearby. All children need kindness and their own time to work through the separation process.

Remember - crying is a form of communication, which needs to be responded to in a gentle and loving way. The amount of time the child takes to settle in differs according to their temperament, earlier attachments the child has made and the amount of preparation that happened prior to the child commencing at the centre. Never insist that a child stops crying as this may be the only way they can express their feelings.

If you work (or have previously worked) in a child care setting, write down your ideas about ways you helped (or saw other workers helping) new children and their families settle into your centre or family day care. You may have seen this situation occur while you were on your Supervised Field Placement (SFP).

Write down any tips that you could share with other staff when they're settling new children into their care.