For about 15 months, Max went to play with his friend when Mommy and Daddy were both at work. Sometimes that meant four days a week, sometimes two, sometimes one; but it was always with the same one kid and the same one mom.
Max and his buddy at the fair!
At the beginning of the summer, that family moved away (Not too far – we visited them last week for a day at the pool! Just too far to drive him there to be babysat). Luckily for us, our neighbor two doors down is able to watch him. Unluckily, Max took awhile to adjust. (Mommy got lucky: Daddy always drops him off, while Mommy always picks him up, so Daddy was always the one there for the crying.)
Max’s new babysitter watches a handful of kids every day, and sometimes the cast of characters changes from one day that Max is there to the next. He is not sure what to expect, and at first all he wanted to do was go to work with Mommy or Daddy.
To help Max adjust, Daddy started telling Max the day before babysitting day that he would be going to play with the kids the next day. Mommy found a book (that the author kindly sent to us free of charge in exchange for an honest review) to help as well: Molly Goes to Preschool.
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The title character in the story is about Max’s age and headed to preschool for the first time. She doesn’t want Mommy to leave, but after spending a little time with the kids in school, she learns that she isn’t alone and that Mommy will of course come back for her.
The illustrations in the book are wonderful, with the facial expressions really telling the story. They were especially helpful because the book is quite wordy, and – at least in my experience – toddlers need great pictures to keep them occupied during long stories. I still didn’t read the book word-for-word; some of the text was written more like how you would orally tell a story rather than how stories are effectively written, but the overall story was useful.
Between reading about Molly, getting a warning from Daddy, and having fun with the other kids at the sitter’s house, Max has learned the important lessons we needed to teach.
Because of the lessons taught by the book, Molly Goes to Preschool deserves three snacks:
Snacks for Max 
Thank you so much for your kind and honest review! I’m glad the book was timely and that Max was able to learn what you needed to teach him – mission accomplished on my end!
Of course, and thanks for the offer of the book for review! I’ve enjoyed following your blog, Cindy 🙂
I’ve been scouring for some good off to pre-k books, as we’ll be headed off here soon. Thank you!
Excellent 🙂 Thanks for visiting, Tiffany!
When my kids went to nursery school I found books like this really useful to read to them. A favorite also was The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.
I’ve heard of that one! I didn’t remember what it was called. Thanks!
Good find – even though my son’s been going to nursery school for over a year, we still hit phases where this book would help us navigate that separation. Thanks for sharing!
I bet! The author, Cindy Andrews, has more info on her blog about separation and what that means when enrolling kids in kindergarten. Check her out! http://www.authorcindyandrews.wordpress.com.
It’s a shame that the book is wordy. It’s so true that they can really lose focus easily if you don’t keep turning pages to a new image. But still, it sounds like it had some relevance and value for your family at the right time. Thanks for linking in the Kid Lit Blog Hop! 🙂
I agree, Renee. Thank you!
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