droping off at school

[narez]

my son cries when me or my wife drop him off at school, the teachers say he is fine when we leave he stops crying.But on the way to school he looks worried, i try to cheer him up but i just cant! i think something scares him!!

[softtail706]

My 5 yr old son has the look of scared on his face when I drop him off at school, he cries for awhile and then he'll cry on and off the hole day at school. The teacher is very good about e-mailing us to let us know how he is. My husband and I are concerned, when he was going to pre-school we had the same problem with him. There we would take him to his class room to say goodbye, here we have to let him out at the door and leave. He is so scared that his face was white and he had the look of total terror on his face. I then parked my car and went into the school to check on him, he still was very scared, the teacher took him and reassured him that Mom and Dad would be there to get him after school. When he was in pre-school he only went 2 1/2 hours, now he's in kindergarten he's there for 61/2 hours. I'm so worried about him and the stress that he's under. He is normal a very loving and behaved child, I'm so worried that this will cause him to not be so sweet anymore. Can you help, thank you

[jdtm]

School and/or being without his parents scare him.  This is called separation anxiety but from what you have written, it appears to be mild.  You claim the teacher says he is fine when you leave, and I suspect he is fine.  Just continue doing what you are doing - drop him off at school with a smile and with a hug/kiss good-bye and reassure him you or your wife will pick him up at a specified time.  If you would like to research this on the internet, try googling "separation anxiety and school" or "preschool anxiety" or similar words/phrases.  He will outgrow this if you and your wife and the school continue to be patient and reassuring and not dwell on his being "scared".  All the best ....