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Today’s episode is Part 2 in our two part series helping you return to work with confidence.  Hopefully last week’s episode with Justine Alter has left you feeling more prepared for your return to work. Today’s expert, Mandy Richardson, is going to help you to prepare your child for your return to work. 

Mandy is an early childhood education professional with a natural passion and love for children. Mandy is the director of Raise Early Childhood, through which she consults to parents and people working with children to help them to form new and respectful perspectives. Mandy joined us on the podcast a few months ago to reassure us that we aren’t harming our children by returning to work and we’ve invited her back today to ask her all the questions about children that we couldn’t squeeze into the first interview.  

Highlights from this episode include: 

• The significance of parents managing their own expectations around the return to work. Apprehension around the return can have a big impact on the child, so it is crucial that we feel confident with the choices we make. 
• There is no one size fits all (surprise!). Take time to decide on the right care for your child. Spend some time with the caregivers, ask questions and make sure that you feel comfortable with your choice.  
• The younger the child, the more important it is for them to have a primary caregiver at childcare rather than a variety of caregivers.  
• The importance of routines at home and with drop-off’s, particularly to help your child to prepare for drop-offs and saying goodbye.  
• Children are incredibly adaptable to change. Help them to prepare to give them the best chance of success.  
• Make sure to schedule regular and predictable family time where your children know that they will always have a chance to connect with you.  
• Acknowledge the child’s feelings, but don’t let them push all the boundaries out of a feeling of guilt from being away during the day. Often children reconnect back to you by seeking out a firm boundary. 
• “Quality time some of the time is much better than half attention all of the time” 

Links mentioned in this episode:  

• Listen to Mandy’s last interview, Working parents: Your kids are going to be fine! 
• Find Mandy at Raise Early Childhood 
• Part 1 in our return to work series: Ready, Set, Go: Preparing yourself to return to work 
• The Juggle Community, our online Facebook group 
• Find us on Instagram and Facebook 
• The Juggle website, where you can find all episodes of The Juggle and sign up to be notified when a new episode is released 

Mandy has kindly shared her top tips to prepare your child for your return to work in a blog post. Check it out here.

Happy juggling!