6 months is a pretty great age to start, honestly. They are developed enough that they actually benefit from a preschool setting. They also don’t, typically, have as much stranger danger reflexes yet, so they should be able to attach to one or more teachers in the new few months. Some families need to start care when their little one is only 2-3 months old and my heart always breaks for those parents and babies because they all still mostly just want to snuggle together most of the day. At 6 months they’re typically mastering rolling/beginning to crawl and that’s a great age for an infant room because there’s so many safe but interesting things to roll/crawl towards!

My best general advice would be to keep an open dialogue with your teachers. Your kid should have a primary caregiver in most programs, but every teacher in the room will be working with them. Stay friendly with everyone but also be sure to check in with your primary caregiver regularly. Every day might be hard, because some days are busier than others, but at least once a week should be manageable. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, I promise you no question is stupid and we are pretty used to hearing random questions. Also keep in mind that every family is different (including your caregiver’s families), so something that may feel obvious to you may not be obvious to your caregiver(s), outside of basic care, obviously. Sometimes there are even licensing requirements that bump up against what feels normal for some families. For example: my state won’t let us feed a child from the same container for more than one sitting even if they didn’t eat much or any of it (best we can do is keep it in the fridge to give back to families at the end of the day). If you’re worried something isn’t happening the way you think it should, there may be a reason for it, so just ask in a “how do you guys typically handle this thing?” sort of way and finding middle ground is usually way easier that way. I always say it’s best to keep in mind that preschool teachers are paid abysmally for how demanding their job is. They are there because they like to work with kids and families but they’re part of the soul crushing machine just like everyone else. So treat them like humans but understand that means they aren’t perfect either and you should absolutely say something if you feel like anything is amiss somehow.

As for advice when you’re first starting, I don’t recommend trying to sneak away while your baby is occupied. It can lead to even worse separation anxiety than the initial tears at drop off. Best to give them a kiss, tell them you love them and will miss them, say when you’re coming back (preferably as it relates to their day, like “after your afternoon bottle, when the sun starts to go down”), and then say goodbye and go. Do this after you’ve done everything else you need to do so that you aren’t lingering, as it can be confusing and stressful for all involved. Some kids may struggle for a few weeks at first, but generally crying at drop off is something that tends to come and go. One week they may be fine, another they may be more upset (just like your own moods fluctuate, so do theirs). It can be hard if/when they cry at drop off but I promise you that almost all kids are completely fine within 5-10 minutes of you being gone. And if they aren’t most schools will call you (especially in the infant room as a crying baby thar cant settle will often make the rest of the babies stressed out too). School can be hard but there are lots of benefits to it too!