this is a great idea. lydia is working on being brave and not shy/fearful. this maybe something i could do for her...

so, what's an equivalent thing for a boy? our middle son is *still* transitioning to school and this is his second year. He still gets teary dropping him off at daycare as well. We have worked on everything you have as well, but it's just hard to watch him. He is fearful of things like the fire drill (loud noises are difficult for him to manage, he had chronic ear infections as a babe), and worries that he'll miss me. All of his teachers assure me that his upset lasts 5 minutes at most and much of his day is spent happily, so i'm hoping it will gradually fade, but i hate dropping him off an feeling like a bad mom.

Hi Tracy, though it doesn't keep the photos right next to the heart, one thought that came to mind for boys is something like the Swing photo key chain. I actually bought one of these when I went back to work after Laurel was born so I'd have easy photo access to her (a little more subtle to look at my key ring than haul a brag book out of my tote during a meeting...).

Anyhow, the thing I really love about the locket - that could also work with this key chain - is that it is small and attached to the little one, so it's with them all the time and there's no need to go fetch a photo from the backpack. The Swing key chain is small enough to go in a pocket, but the reason I thought of it is that it could be hooked to a belt loop so it doesn't get lost.

-Christine

I just love this idea, and am so happy you made a suggestion for boys who also need totems like this for transitions...definitely going to pick up a little keychain for my transitioning Kindergarten guy!

that's a great idea...am going to see if i can find one around here...or through amazon.ca i guess. since he's worried about missing me maybe that would be the ticket.

Oh, I'm happy you reminded me--long ago I had thought of getting matching heart lockets for my son and me (he can wear his under his shirt).
School transition is very tough: it's apparently expected here (no teacher will admit it, but young adults say it's obvious and prevalent) for the youngest kids in school to get pushed around and 'shown their place' by older kids, who are not seen as bullies, because they, as a class, not individuals, do this. Add to that that kids are skeptical about my son (the immigrants association says lots of dark-skinned boys get beat up the first few weeks of school, so we can be glad it isn't that bad) and he has had to deal with a lot of being shoved and called nasty names (learning some new German vocabulary). Many kids apparently are cowed very quickly, but my guy has NO frame of reference for might making right, and stands up to them, getting him a rep among the teachers as --you guessed it--an aggressive black boy who's going to be dangerous, and the kids still come up and knock him around to provoke him into chasing and hitting them. He's got to learn not to, but how do I explain it in a way that doesn't sound like he's got to take it?
Anyway, that's a lot more than one little locket can resolve, but at least he'll have one more strategy to reconnect with mamaloving and help chill out. My hope is that if he can just not respond, they'll give up.