ABSTRACT
Coping with separation is a crucial developmental achievement, and one that the nursery age child has been struggling towards and grappling with during the toddler years. Separation experiences are bound up with the kind and quality of the relationships that the young child has. The child who has a good enough relationship with the parent he fundamentally trusts will, in time, develop the capacity to bear the impatience which accompanies separation and will wait in confidence with the positive expectation that she will return. Many schools are well versed in facilitating this achievement, which is one constructed by both parent and child. The issue of separation brings with it the issue of two persons’ needs, the parent and the child. Children may need help with their separation experiences when they enter nursery school. Separations are an inevitable part of life; the pain, fears, and uncomfortable feelings that accompany them can be lived through and overcome by parent and child.
