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Painful Parting
Separation Teaches Important Lessons
Keywell also uses phrases that will help her son understand the situation. "I say, 'I'm going to miss you, too. I love you. I'm going to come back. Here's what's going to happen in two hours. We're going to do something when I come back to pick you up. I'm going to think about you. I promise I'll be back.' And so on."
"It's really hard because your heart breaks when he cries," she says. "My heart says, my God, I never want to leave this kid. But if I do that, then he's never going to be able to be on his own. He needs to be able to learn how to be on his own and be there and be OK. I think it's harder on me than it is on him because he adjusts after a short while; I have to leave him crying (or just having stopped crying), and I can't really go back in and be there for him and tell him it's OK."
Keywell knows her son will adjust, and lessons will be learned.
"My husband reminded me that it's our job as parents to teach our kids the skills to get through tough times on their own, and that's what we're doing."
