Kids & Company Blog

Transitioning Sensitive Children

In the child care world, we often talk about "transitioning" from one part of the daily schedule to the next. Children might be playing on the carpet and then need to come to the table to have their snack. Most children manage this transition well and when told that it is "snack time" they jump up from their play and run happily to the table.

Some children have a harder time with this and need to be told a few times, "soon it will be snack time", "a few more minutes", "start to get ready" and other reminders like these. We find this makes things much easier.

Interestingly, I discovered that a few of my babies were quite sensitive and had problems with "transitions" from their first day. They cried upon waking, sometimes for a long time, and had a hard time adjusting, especially in noisy moments.

Quite honestly, this was a huge surprise for me with baby number four, as the first three managed the transitions well. This baby boy cried from the moment he woke up and continued to cry for up to an hour every time he did. What I discovered (and it took a long time to figure this out!), was that he wouldn't really cry if he was left to wake up on his own and had a bit of time to adjust "on his own" to being awake before being pounced upon by his mother (I was very anxious to cuddle the second that I heard him make a noise).

This taught me (and by baby number four, I thought that I was a baby pro!), a very important lesson and made me a more reflective mother.

As a closing note, that "sensitive" baby has evolved into a fantastic 21 year old man who will be a wonderful businessman, husband and father one day. On top of that, I think that his sensitivity will add greatly to his success.

Posted on: Wednesday August 15th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik