Even though it is a very normal thing, truth is that the period in which our kid adapts to kindergarten is essential: both for him and for us, the parents. In many occasions there can be anxiety due to the separation; the parents fear what may happen, and the children feel they are being abandoned.
We have to consider that many times the first visit to the kindergarten happens when the child is between 6 and 18 months, a period in which the baby goes through the stage of maximum attachment to his parents. And at the present times not much can be done to avoid this separation.
We leave our child in a maximum confidence environment and in the best place we know of, but we can’t avoid the child to feel scared. This is why the best idea is that this adaptation happens as soon as possible. Against the popular belief, the best thing is to take the baby to kindergarten as soon as possible because adaptation happens faster at 4 or six months old that when they are a year old.
Is there a fixed time for the adaptation? Really not: each child is a world and this phase can be shorter or longer. It is a moment which requires the parents’ patience, who should also do everything they can to help this adaptation happen.
Many specialists recommend that their parents go with their children during the first days of kindergarten and progressively make their stays shorter until they can leave the child alone. But many schools don’t allow the parents to assist, and also many parents don’t have time to be at the kindergarten because of work.
In that case, we have to "do the work at home": we have to understand their fears, make them see that we are always going to be with them, and that the fact that we are missing for some hours doesn’t mean that we are getting rid of them, and also make them see that they are going to meet many other children that will become their friends. In a few words: be comprehensive but firm and transmit them the security that we have transmitted their caretakers.
We have to understand that this phase for the kid to discover what is there in the world. What happens to our child is something that has happened to us all: we are afraid of the unknown, but we will always be able to rely on more experienced people.