Moving Rooms: Supporting Big Transitions at Bright Horizons
Meet Elyse, mother to a 2-year-old, and member of our fantastic Parent Panel; a diverse community of Bright Horizons parents sharing their experiences of raising happy, thriving and confident children. In this blog, Elyse shares her daughter's experience of moving rooms at nursery.
- “They had a settle?!”
Children love to keep us on our toes, don’t they? Just as we get used to one nap schedule, they decide to chuck that out of the window. They really love cheese sandwiches? Guess again – now it’s jam all the way. Unfortunately, the same can go for nursery – just as you get used to the routine, names and faces of one room, you’re told “they had a settle today!”… and just like that, it’s time for them to start getting ready to move into the next room.
You knew it was coming, but somehow it still creeps up on you. It can be a bit daunting really, and if you’re like me, you may be left wondering when you can have your own settle session, just to get your head around it.
- The countdown begins
When picking your little one up, you may start to be told all about a settle that they had that day – some may be smoother than others, which can be the same for us as adults really. My daughter is a really confident and happy child, but I was still left wondering how she’d do – because after all, she’s still a tiny baby heading into a nursery room with toddlers and small children. Or at least, that’s how it felt – but in reality, she was stomping into that next room each time, ready to explore and take on any new activities thrown at her!
Something you may find as time goes by with your child’s settling in sessions, is that they’ll increase in both frequency and duration – but perhaps you’ll also notice new skills or (depending on your child’s stage) new words!
- The big move
The day is here – it’s time to move! When my little girl had her first day in the Nursery Room, it was straight off the back of the Christmas/New Year’s break… she waltzed into nursery after being away for over a week, with only that confidence that a toddler can have. She stomped right up to the Toddler Room door to see her best friend, and… I reminded her that today she’s moving rooms!
As always, the nursery practitioners were lovely – happy for me to ask how she was doing as the day went on, and even came to check I was ok when I cried. You’re always able to lean on them if you need some extra reassurance or updates, they’re there for you as much as they are there for your little one!
- “Oh… actually, they’re doing really well!”
I have been known, on occasion, to frantically finish work early – convinced that my little girl is having an awful day, full of change. Once I went to pick her up way ahead of schedule because I’d noticed that she had only napped for 6 minutes in the entire day. I had images in my mind of her being miserable and missing me … only to turn up and be told that she was just having too much fun to nap!
It's such a cliché, but children are so much more resilient than we give them credit for. Equally, each one of them is so different from the other – some may take to a room change like it’s absolutely nothing, and others may need some more time to settle in and get used to things. The main thing is to remember that they’re in a familiar setting, with familiar faces and routines – perhaps even with some friends from their old room, where they can be reunited. And either way, you still get to collect them at the end of the day to give them a big cuddle and find out all about their day.
