Question
Hello Gurus! Our 18-month-old goes part-time (24 hours/week) to day care and adores it. She exhibits no fear of strangers when we're out and about (smiling, waving, asking for hugs) and when we have other adults over, it's her favorite thing in the world. She plays independently and I can count on my fingers the number of times she has run to me because of being frightened. Which leads me to this: the Y in our neighborhood has a little child care area where parents can leave their kids so they can work out - nice little room, toys, attendants. I left our daughter there and she lost it - they called after 20 minutes to have me come get her. I tried it a few more times and she started bawling before I even got her out of her carrier. I figured I would give it a few weeks before trying again; in the meantime, I have a friend who has a gym in her building and a young son, so I proposed we switch off watching each other's kids for a half hour while the other exercised (I would use her day care time or after she goes to bed for exercise time, but those are my work hours). My daughter has been over this woman's place a ton and likes her and her son, so I figured no problem, but as soon as I left the apartment, she cried and cried (she did calm down after 5 minutes or so, but the other woman's son was upset and I felt terrible leaving her with *two* bawling toddlers). So, is it normal to have separation anxiety only in specific situations? Should I abandon these experiments for awhile or try to tough it out? Thanks so much, you all are a great resource!
