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Daycare drop offs can be hard for both the child and the parent, especially if the child is crying and doesn't want to stay. Luckily, there are ways to make this daily transition easier, including making a "goodbye" book. A goodbye book helps your child predict and understand what is going to happen each day, and it helps to create a soothing rhythm for your child.

Want to make one? Here are a few tips on creating one:

1. Buy a photo album to use as the base of your book.

Your goodbye book is going to feature a series of pictures and some simple text that tells the story of your child's morning routine and daycare drop off. You can simply fold pieces of printer paper together and staple them in the middle, but that can be a bit flimsy.

If you want a book that your toddler can read over and over and even take with them to daycare, you want to use a photo album. A simple album with paper pages and spiral binding works great, or you can use the classic ring-binder style albums with clear, plastic pages that you slip photos into.

2. Choose the events to include in the book.

Once you have a photo album, you want to decide which events to include in the book. Ideally, the book should sum up what you and your child do every morning, so make sure not to include events if you cannot consistently make them happen.

An example goodbye book could include a picture of a child eating breakfast, brushing his or her teeth, grabbing his or her backpack, riding in the car, saying goodbye to mom or dad at daycare, and then playing happily at daycare.

You can also include a scene where you pick up your child -- that can be especially soothing for kids who are worried that you may not come back.

3. Create or find images to include in the book.

Once you have selected the events for the goodbye book, you need to find or create images. You can draw pictures, you can cut out photos from magazines, or you can even use your camera to take real photos of your child doing each of those things.

Once you have the images, simply slip them into the book. If you have an album with paper pages, you will glue the images into the books or use photo squares to hold them in place. If you have an album with plastic photo pages, you just slip the photos, magazine pictures or drawings inside the pages as usual.

4. Read the book with your toddler.

Repetition is a key part of the toddler learning experience. Toddlers repeat things so that they learn them, but they also use repetition as confirmation that things will stay the same and be predictable. Typically, you will see your toddler use repetition as they repeatedly bang a spoon on a table, as they beg you for "one more" piggy back ride, or as they enjoy the same story over and over again.

You can also use the need for repetition to help teach your child what to expect during daycare drop off. Once you have the goodbye book ready, read it to your child. Then, read it to your child again and again. Through repeated telling and retelling, your child will learn what to expect, and as as a result, the daily daycare drop off will get easier and easier.

5. Mirror the book's plot in your daycare drop off routine.

Now that your child knows what to expect, make sure to mirror that routine every day. Make sure that you work through the steps or events in the book. As your child does the same routine during every daycare drop off and gets the chance to have that routine reinforced through the book, he or she will be more able to say goodbye peacefully and calmly.

A goodbye books helps your child trust that the daycare drop off experience will be the same every time, and as your child gets comfortable with the drop off experience, he or she will also get more comfortable with the notion that you will always come back. For more tips and ideas on how to make daycare drop off easier, contact a daycare professional at a school like Miniapple International Montessori School.