This subject came up on one of the Russian Adoption listservs that I read regularly: what to do to make the transition to childcare, preschool, or school easier for your newly adopted child? I think there was some great advice given on the list, so I'm going to paraphrase it here.

But first, let me tell you what we did. Now, I am lucky enough so that when we adopted Little J I was only working part-time and I was working at a job that let me have unlimited leave/flex hours. I did not get paid for the hours I didn't work, but as long as we could swing it financially they let me stay out or do a little work from home. When we adopted Little J I hadn't decided if I'd go back to work or not. I was able to stay at home with Big J for over 2 years full-time, then I only worked 2 days a week until he was 4, when he was in 5/day week pre-k anyway. I wanted to do the same thing for Little J.

But then we got him and I began to feel the walls closing in...nevermind that the lack of my little paycheck began to create financial difficulty at home. So after 2 months I just worked on Fridays, when my husband was able to be home, and after 4 months Little J began attending a part-time in-home daycare. It worked out very well for us - we visited the daycare ahead of time, I stayed with him for a few days, and he just so happened to have the sweetest day-care provider in the world, Miss Joyce, to care for him so we didn't have any problems at all. Eventually he started going more and more, and now that I'm working at home he goes to the same 5/day a week preschool that his brother went to. Not quite full-time, but every day.

But what if you don't have the options or the luck or the privilege to do as we did? What if you work full time and you only get 6 weeks off for your adoption and you already used 2 of them for travel? Of course you know that it's best for your newly adopted child that you spend as much time as possible with him or her but someone has to bring home the bacon: you.

This is what the writer on the Russian adoption list suggested: visit preschool or daycare or school regularly, but start slow. A morning, to a couple mornings, to a whole day. Get the child used to the idea. Then, and this is the GENIUS of her suggestion, make a little book for your child to take to school with him or her for when you have to leave. In the book put pictures of you and your home and the two (or three or whatever) of you together, and take a picture of you all at school, and finally, enclose a picture of you picking him up at school, along with a picture of a clock, so he or she will know when you will come back. Even if the child can't tell time I think the clock is a very useful tool.

So hopefully this will help you if you're in this predicament. I thought it was a great idea and hopefully it will make the transition a little easier.